[attr="class","juliaw"]

When Julia signed up for the Rangers, she didn't imagine that one of her duties would be patrolling a mall parking lot at 3:00 AM. But hey, this was a special occasion! The Slateport Splashfest brought in people from all over Hoenn, and unfortunately, that meant unsavory types, too. The police force was already stretched thin trying to keep everything under control not just here but in the region as a whole, so Julia had volunteered to take up a patrol or two during the event. She even got her own walkie-talkie to call for backup if things got hairy! She hoped she wouldn't have to use it, but at least having it felt cool!

[break][break]She yawned and stretched her arms up toward the star-speckled sky. It wasn't as good of a view as the wilderness or back home in Fortree, but the mall's dimmed lights let a few determined stars twinkle into view. It had been a slow night so far. Julia had had to warn a few small groups about loitering, and they'd begrudgingly moved on. She couldn't actually hand out tickets or arrests, but it seemed nobody wanted to deal with even the threat of one just for hanging out in a mall parking lot at 3:00 AM.

[break][break]Okay, most of them were probably doing more than just "hanging out," but as long as they weren't causing any trouble, Julia could just send them on their way. No sense in calling for backup for every little thing; the officers had enough on their plates as it was.

[break][break]And speaking of loiterers, Julia spotted a couple of figures in the distance. She couldn't make out any specific features in the dark, but they definitely didn't look like security guards or officers. She gestured for Chester to follow.

[break][break]"Excuse me!" she called as the glow of her flashlight came closer. "You can't be out here right now!" She'd long given up on the idea of trying to be gruff and intimidating and stuck to her usual friendliness. It had worked so far, at least, maybe because it was so different from what a loiterer would normally hear.

[attr="class","skullhover"]

[attr="class","juliaw"]

Julia didn't really consider herself a "hotshot." But she was pretty bouncy in both personality and movement, though the latter was partially a side effect of her prosthetic leg. Either way, she was just as surprised as Isaac when the more heavily-dressed guy just shrugged and walked away. He even whistled merrily! And... then got a hot dog from a vendor? They stayed open this late?

[break][break]Focus, Julia! Right, there was still one more guy left. He seemed just as willing to mosey along and get out of Julia's hair, but... Her eyes and light fell on the boxes, which had been hidden by the darkness until she was up close.

[break][break]"What, uh, whatcha got there?" she asked, trying to sound casual and probably failing; Julia was the kind of woman who wore her heart on her sleeve, and right now, her heart was suspicious. People didn't just take boxes from mall parking lots at 3:00 in the morning. At 3:00 in the afternoon, sure. It was a mall, after all. Meanwhile, Chester tilted all three of his heads at various angles as he examined the boxes from where he stood.

[break][break]She took another look at the boy who'd stayed behind. He was wearing a mask, which only added to the suspicion. The gears began to turn in her head... and then her eyes went wide. The guy who had left wasn't just some "guy." No, Julia had seen him on the news a couple of weeks ago: He was a Rocket who'd escaped a League escort with the help of two other grunts. And the person she was currently looking at...

[break][break]Oh, crap.

[break][break]Julia fumbled for her radio, trying to figure out what the code would be for "guys help there's a possibly dangerous Rocket here and I am not qualified to handle this!"

[attr="class","skullhover"]

[attr="class","juliaw"]

Julia blinked a few times, and yeah, huh, he was holding a smoothie that she hadn't noticed before. A weird sense of deja vu washed over her. Had she seen this scenario somewhere before...?

[break][break]Wait, no, the smoothie wasn't the important part here! Those boxes were! The boxes that, Julia now realized, were labeled with various caution warnings. Caution warnings such as "Explosive" and "Flammable." Okay, yeah, she definitely wasn't qualified to handle this. Screw the codes; she needed to tell someone now!

[break][break]"Rockets at the Central Mall parking lot," she said quickly into the walkie. "Possibly carrying explosives."

[break][break]The masked Rocket was talking now, trying to placate Julia. Julia pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes. Chester's right head joined in the glaring while the other two kept lookout. "'Fine folks'?" she asked. "The only people out here are me and—!"

[break][break]Chester's central head let out a warning squawk when he realized Isaac had released a Pokémon. Before Julia could realize what the warning meant, her world went white and frigid. She let out a startled cry and covered her eyes with her arm. Beside her, she could hear Chester let out a tripled cry of his own.

[break][break]"ksh— Come in; identify yourself." Julia barely heard the crackle of the radio over the howling Blizzard. She lowered her arm and squinted into the subsiding storm to see Isaac already on a motorcycle. With a taunt, he waved at her before revving the engine.

[break][break]Crud, she couldn't let him get away with all those explosives! She pressed down on her walkie-talkie's call button, only to be met with solid resistance. "Wha—?" She looked down, and her eyes went wide when she realized the button had been frozen by the Blizzard! It still seemed to be working, but she wouldn't be able to make any calls until it thawed out. Sure, now the officers knew there were Rockets in the parking lot, but if this one got away, would they be able to find him?

[break][break]She looked at Chester. His leftmost head was cringing in shivering pain, but the right one was pushing through the chill to glare at Isaac. The center one looked back at Julia and nodded to indicate that he was okay. Julia nodded back, then hopped up onto the Dodrio's back.

[break][break]"After them!" she shouted. She still didn't like the idea of dealing with someone with what might have been bombs, but she had to at least see which direction he was going so she could call for backup once her radio had thawed out.

[attr="class","skullhover"]

[attr="class","juliaw"]

Julia dropped her jaw when she saw Isaac catch the hot dog thrown at her, then immediately regretted it when the cold air rushed into her mouth. She glanced back at Hank with a frown. Hopefully the officers would get there in time to intercept him, but right now, she had to focus on the one trying to get away.

[break][break]Said Rocket sent a Jolteon out into the sidecar. The Eeveelution leaped from the car and ran alongside it, barking and shaking its rear tauntingly. Wait, no, it wasn't taunting them; it was shooting out Pin Missiles behind it! It was like laying out tire spikes, only for feet! "Watch out, Chester!" she called.

[break][break]One of Chester's heads kept an eye on the road, allowing the Dodrio to rather easily move out of the way of the Pin Missiles, while one watched the Jolteon and the other kept its eyes on the bike. Three heads really were better than one! Four if you counted Julia!

[break][break]Chester squawked in surprise as one barrage of Pin Missiles came right at him, forcing him to dodge to one side. Julia let out a surprised shout and held on tighter to his back feathers, mentally apologizing for being so rough. "Shoot," she whispered. She needed to get that Jolteon out of the way if they were gonna make any headway, but none of her other Pokémon could run nearly as fast as Chester. Think, Julia, think...! Ah-ha!

[break][break]She tapped a Poké Ball open to release her Pansear, Momo, in front of her and held onto him so he wouldn't lose balance. "Sorry for the bumpy ride," she said. "I need you to Flame Burst that Jolteon! But be careful not to hit the bike!" She wouldn't want to be responsible for the Rocket's cargo blowing up, after all.

[break][break]Momo seemed a bit confused at first, but after he'd followed Chester's gaze to the aforementioned Jolteon, he squeaked out an affirmation and blew a ball of flame at his new opponent. Whether it hit its target or just the road, it would burst out to cover more ground and burn a few of the Pin Missiles embedded in the asphalt away.

[attr="class","skullhover"]

[attr="class","juliaw"]

Okay, as it turned out, aiming anything during a high-speed chase was hard. Julia tensed at just how close the Flame Burst was to the explosive cargo, something Isaac was quick to snark at her about.

[break][break]"Hey, you're the one carrying explosives!" Julia shot back. Sure, she shouldn't have used a Fire-type with explosives on the field, but still! Her eyes fell on Ivan's raised, sparking haunches at about the same time that Isaac's did. Okay, fire was obviously bad to use around explosives, but would an electric shock light them up, too? Isaac looked nervous about it, so that was probably a yes.

[break][break]Julia was surprised at just how sheepish Isaac sounded about calling a mulligan. He even slowed down his bike to recall his Jolteon! Julia signaled for Chester to slow down in turn. "Yeah, good idea," she said. "Good job, Momo. Come on back." She tapped Momo's Poké Ball onto his head to recall the simian Pokémon. She felt weirdly better about not being the only one to pick a bad Pokémon for the situation. At least Isaac was polite enough to slow down so they could both send out new Pokémon. Which was also weird, now that Julia thought about it.

[break][break]But she didn't have much time to ponder; that politeness was shattered by a Poké Ball flying toward her. A Golbat sprung out right in front of Chester and immediately let out a high-pitched Supersonic right in his faces. Julia cringed at the sound while Chester let out three separate confused squawks and began to stagger on uneven steps. Julia clung tight to his feathers to avoid falling off. "Snap out of it, buddy!" she shouted.

[break][break]Chester's slowed pace meant that the motorcycle was putting some distance between it and Julia. She grit her teeth and tapped another Poké Ball to send out Sparkie, who immediately climbed onto Julia's shoulder. She couldn't be reckless with Electric attacks here, but she had another plan: "Give 'em a Sweet Kiss!"

[break][break]Sparkie held a paw to her mouth, causing little pink hearts to gather. With a cute "Piiiiika!", she blew a kiss at the Golbat, causing the hearts to fly at it and swirl around, aiming to confuse it just as it had confused Chester.

[attr="class","skullhover"]

[attr="class","juliaw"]

Julia had to take a moment to think on Isaac's words. What were a Rocket's standards, anyway? "They're still explosives!" Julia called out. "For all I know, you're—hey!" Before she could finish—or send out her next Pokémon—Isaac was already racing off, leaving Julia to contend with his Golbat. She pouted angrily, though in retrospect, she should have expected that from the bad guys.

[break][break]At least her Sweet Kiss strategy was working! ... Maybe a bit too well, actually. The Golbat had turned into a blushing, embarrassed mess trying to hide behind its own feet. Still perched on Julia's shoulder, Sparkie looked confused at first, then let out a bashful squeak of her own as she realized just what kind of effect she'd apparently had on her opponent. A blush spread across her face as she hid fully behind Julia's head.

[break][break]Aww, man, Julia thought. This would be so cute if we weren't chasing down a Rocket.

[break][break]Now that he wasn't being bombarded by a Supersonic sonar, Chester was able to clear one head at a time to focus on the task at hand. He began pressing forward again, strides steady, after the light of the motorcycle in the distance. When had it started going so fast?

[break][break]Now that she had a moment to breathe, Julia looked at her walkie-talkie again. Oh! The ice had melted, perfect! She pressed down on the call button again, only to yelp and fumble the device when she felt a static shock. She tried catching it, but taking both hands off of Chester's back meant her balance was thrown off, and she had to grasp his feathers again just to keep from falling off. Luckily, Sparkie snapped out of her embarrassment just in time to catch the handheld between her paws. The Pikachu and her trainer both let out sighs of relief.

[break][break]Chester's left head looked back worriedly after feeling the commotion on his back. "I'm okay," Julia said with a smile. "Hold onto that for me for a second, Sparkie. We're gonna have to speed it up if we wanna catch them." Sparkie squeaked in understanding, and Chester's left head let out a chirp before the Dodrio began to speed after the motorcycle.

[attr="class","skullhover"]

[attr="class","juliaw"]

Yes! Julia was gaining on them! She grinned triumphantly as the motorcycle came into full view... then gasped when it spun around, causing the moon to shine off its rider's metallic head crest. A Bisharp? Riding a motorcycle? She guessed it made sense, given its humanoid size and shape, and it would have even been cool (especially the wheelie!) if it hadn't meant she'd been tricked! Bamboozled! Smeckledorfed, even!

[break][break]"Where's your trainer?" she demanded. Chester cawed presumably the same question.

[break][break]As an answer, the Bisharp sliced into a nearby brick wall with Psycho Cut and tossed the dislodged bricks at the Cubone. Julia yelped as Chester dodged the Cubone-Flung bricks with a startled squawk.

[break][break]"Hey, careful with those! Someone could really get hurt—!" The last word turned into a yell as Chester suddenly buckled beneath her. One of the bricks had hit its mark, causing the Dodrio to lose balance. Julia held on as tight as she could, but she couldn't stop herself from tumbling off her partner to the pavement below. Sparkie squealed and jumped down, dropping the walkie-talkie with a clatter so she could land safely on all fours. She immediately ran up to her trainer with a series of concerned squeaks. She didn't even notice the Golbat shyly asking for the now-dropped communicator.

[break][break]"Oof... I'm okay," Julia said breathlessly. That had hurt, but it could have been a lot worse if she'd fallen the full distance from Chester's back to the ground.