REESE RHODES ' call would not go unanswered. At the end of his call, he was to expect Shalin Nariya , Rustboro's new Captain, to answer the call personally. With the transfer paperwork almost completely taken care of and call volume down due to the weather getting cooler, she had the time to take some tickets. A little extra money couldn't hurt, either!

Reviewing the ticket, it was to save a Berry grove from a horde of Zigzagoon that had claimed the patch as their own. Reports claimed that while a noncombat resolution would be preferred, their aggression meant Pokémon combat was something she would need to be prepared for. The sensitivity of the environment meant she could not use her usual bug Pokémon; their poison-type attacks could pollute the ground and ruin the crop, and the wake of their buzzing wings could uproot the garden.

That didn't mean she wasn't going to arrive without some flair, though.

The yellow-uniformed Ranger Captain came bounding toward Reese on the back of perhaps the largest Raticate he had ever seen, the normal-type's saddle covering almost its entire back. Seeing halters behind the vermin's long and sharp whiskers could have been eye-opening for him as the high-ranking Ranger bounced rapidly on the unusual mount's back.

Squeals slid to a stop within arm's reach of Reese. "Captain Shalin Nariya of Rustboro," she introduced herself, having cut the "wildest Pokémon rider" part of her greeting since she was promoted. Quite a distance behind her galloped a Type: Null that was her backup plan in case nonviolent tactics failed.

'eye opening' is one way of putting it. reese is staring at the berry grove when he hears the pitter-patter of massive rat feet coming directly at him, and he turns just in time to see the raticate coming straight at him. he lets out a cry of shock and fear, stumbling back, nearly slipping and falling on the ground. he catches himself as shalin introduces herself. still shaken, he tries to pretend he wasn't just fearing for his life just now.

"r-reese... rhodes..." they mumble an introduction. a captain? but shalin looks like she's roughly the same age as him... reese shakes themself out of their head and turns again, pointing at the grove. there's a single zigzagoon standing guard, but they know from experience there's plenty more hiding in plain sight, waiting for someone to try and take 'their' berries. it wouldn't be an issue if they weren't hoarding them; reese firmly believes the berries growing here should be free for anyone to take.

"i'm not really sure what i can do to help, but... m-maybe i can back you up with my roserade's stun spore if things get nasty...?" one or two zigzagoon aren't intimidating. a whole clan of them, however, might overwhelm with sheer numbers...

[ Shalin Nariya ]

Shalin took her hand off Squeals' reins long enough to cup it around her ear. "Are you okay? Sorry, I couldn't quite hear you." If Reese was kind enough to repeat the introduction, Shalin would acknowledge it. "Hi there, Reese! Squeals here is as friendly as can be," she tried to comfort them despite the chittering from her vermin steed. "That would be appreciated! I think I can handle it myself, though. Be ready in case they charge you, though."

With that, rat and rider took off once more, skittering around the Berry grove and circling the two Zigzagoon with a SCARY FACE to convince them that there was better food elsewhere. One backed down and scurried away, but the other seemed agitated, darting toward Squeals and Shalin in a QUICK ATTACK too fast to react to. Lathiel the Type: Null was on the scene, and it looked like she was ready to pounce the other Zigzagoon.

reese releases his roserade as shalin begins the operation. the two stay nearby, agitated and nervous, watching as the ranger deals with the territorial zigzagoon. she does seem to have it handled... he feels rather useless, just standing here shifting from foot to foot awkwardly as he watches. the zigzagoon all seem focused on shalin, having judged her the larger threat. as one darts toward her and her raticate, reese steps forward, about to call out a command to his own pokemon. but then her type: null (a pokemon he's never seen before) deals with it swiftly.

suddenly, reese hears.... growling. they slowly turn, and notice a large, scarred linoone advancing on them. this one pays no mind to shalin, and instead is coming straight for reese. maybe it hopes to divide the focus a bit?

reese backs up. come on, you can handle this... it's just one pokemon. one incredibly menacing pokemon. "u-use stun spore!" their voice cracks as they issue the order. petal flings a yellow powder out of the roses that serve as his hands, but the linoone dodges the attack effortlessly. their reaction was simply too slow.

it suddenly darts at petal. reese flinches, not used to battle, frozen in indecision.

[ Shalin Nariya ]

Linoone were incredibly fast and nimble Pokémon, but only when making right-angle turns. Shalin remembered her first formal training exercise as a Ranger, expected to use her most basic of skills to catch one of them without traditional Pokémon combat. She marveled at how enormous that Pokémon was for its size, and longed for one of her own that large. All she could do was visit Distorions as they popped up. Perhaps she would get lucky to find one if she was persistent enough!

"Watch out!" the Captain cried as the cloud of STUN SPORE was far too slow to impede the Normal-type. "Lathiel, TRI-ATTACK!" The Type: Null put a triad of fire, electric, and ice lasers between Petal and the wild. The icy part of the attack grazed it. With a whip-like swerve accompanied by a sound akin to squealing tires, it turned toward Lathiel in a burst of nearly undodgeable EXTREME SPEED.

Wait, EXTREME SPEED?

Josh Devlin had told Shalin about this special case once. Linoone could only learn the move by being bred with an Arcanine, the only other Pokémon with the right genes. Had this Pokémon been abandoned by its previous trainer?

"Careful, Reese; I think this Pokémon had been raised by another trainer before being released," Shalin relayed her observations as a second screech-like noise echoed from the Linoone's paws.

oh, thank arceus shalin's pokemon came to his rescue. her explanation doesn't make him feel much better, though. "seriously?" reese squeaks out, backpedaling furiously to remain by shalin's side. he'll be safer there than anywhere else, he figures. "i-i guess that explains why their behavior is so... out of the ordinary, then?" wild pokemon had territory disputes, of course, but they typically left places with lots of human traffic alone. this linoone must have usurped the zigzagoon gang's original leader, and because it was born to and raised by a trainer, it didn't know the consequences of messing with human-run areas.

still, the way it moves is giving them an idea... it's so fast it can't stop as neatly as most linoone do. instead its paws dig into the ground and it skids to a stop. there's a pattern to it, and observing it from more of a distance lets reese read the pattern much easier.

it's going to come for them any second. its eyes gleam as it sets the two trainers and their pokemon as its target. it's about ready to attack...

reese points. "use stun spore!" he commands. as the linoone darts forward, reese's roserade lets out a puff of paralyzing spores. unwittingly, the linoone blunders directly into it, unable to stop its approach in time due to its speed. the spores take effect, and just before it reaches its targets, its limbs lock up and it faceplants into the ground.

[ Shalin Nariya ]

The cloud of STUN SPORE left the Linoone unable to use its blistering fast charge. As good as the Normal-type was at slamming on the brakes, the sheer magnitude of speed made it impossible to avoid the Roserade's trap. Squeals could now catch the Linoone, Shalin acting upon the development. She slid back in the rat's saddle and leaned as low as she could without her head overtaking her Pokémon's.

As she bounded toward the Linoone, Squeals' teeth loudly and rapidly chittered, the rider's skin tingling in the same way it would when astride one of her insect Pokémon. The SUPER FANG, while powerful, was a move she knew wouldn't sap all of the Pokémon's energy. "Catch it, now!" Shalin urged Reese. "This might be our only chance!"

reese's plan works enough to leave an opening for shalin's raticate to attack. he breathes a sigh of relief, but doesn't have much time to relax before shalin is giving him a command. reese stiffens up, his face turning red. "m-me!?" he protests. why me!? he fumbles with his bag, pulling it off his back and dumping it on the ground due to the lack of time he has to sort through it. a number of things fall to the ground; some snacks, a first aid kit, painkillers, his wallet, his keys... and some pokeballs roll out too.

they grab ahold of one and fling it at the linoone. it's a bad angle, and they can't help but wince as they almost miss their completely immobile target. but thankfully, the ball hits its mark and captures it, enclosing the paralyzed beast inside. the ball wiggles a few times, reese watching nervously in case the linoone escapes... but then it settles in, and reese finally can relax for real.

the remaining zigzagoon, the few who haven't been chased off, watch this happening from behind the cover of the trees. once they realize their leader has been defeated, they scamper away, not wanting to be captured as well.

[ Shalin Nariya ]

Reese's delayed reaction was just fast enough to catch the Linoone. With their de facto leader having vanished into a Poké Ball, the remainder of the wilds quickly dispersed, their morale shattered. The Berry garden was safe, and more importantly, so were Reese and Shalin.

Even Lathiel breathed a sigh of relief, the battle looking like it could have spiraled out of control at any given moment. "Couldn't have done it without you, Reese," the Captain complimented, riding close enough to give him a pat on the shoulder if he allowed it. "Before you do anything with the Linoone, I suggest you take it to your local Ranger HQ to make sure it's not a missing Pokémon. If no matches come up, then it's yours to keep!"

That may have been a bit too much excitement for someone used to a restaurant job. "Need a ride back to town? Whether it's Mauville or Verdanturf, I've got a Pokémon that can help."

reese stares at the pokeball in his hand like any moment it might start biting him. at least the zigzagoon are gone... and it's not like he has to keep the vicious linoone. hopefully somebody will come to claim it, since it's apparent it had a trainer before all of this.

they stare at the berry trees swaying in the chilly breeze. they came out here to relax and enjoy the outdoors, and maybe help tend to the trees, but... now they want to get this linoone back to its proper owner as soon as possible. who knows if and when it might come bursting out of its ball? it's fairly rare, but it still happens.

they sigh. "just take me to wherever i can get this linoone checked to see if it's a lost pokemon," he says. "er... and thank you for the help." she did most of the work here, and he mostly stood back and cowered. rangers sure are something else, huh? he'd never be able to manage the job, he knows that for sure now.

[ Shalin Nariya ]

Mauville was the more populated city, making it more likely that the Pokémon's owner was from there. "I'll take you to Mauville HQ then," Shalin offered. She grabbed a Poké Ball from her waist, a Persian the size of a small Rapidash emerging from it. Wearing a lavish, comfortable-looking saddle, the Pokémon mewed before walking up to Reese and crouching, beckoning him to hop on.

The whole scene was a testament to how well-behaved Serena was; in the wild, they preyed upon Pokémon like Raticate. Serena seemed to leave Squeals be, content to run alongside the normal-type vermin Shalin was perched atop. "You ever been on a Pokémon's back before? If you haven't, controlling one is easy. I can show you the ropes if you need me to!" Even if he didn't want to or was uncomfortable learning with another person's Pokémon, Serena would be more than comfortable to prance toward Mauville at a good clip, but not so fast as to be physically challenging for an inexperienced rider to hold onto. As much as Lathiel wanted to give Reese a lift instead, he knew it would make Shalin upset. Instead, the Type: Null would simply follow the two back to Mauville, keeping an eye out for any Pokémon that were out of line.

he should really have expected something like this, but he still stares at the persian, blinking. "er..." slowly, he feels his sense of normalcy collapse, and he weakly agrees to the ride. how hard can it be, right...? what am i saying!? i'll probably fall off! despite his anxiety, though, he manages the trip without incident, clinging tightly to the persian as it lopes easily along. if he were someone else, he might have enjoyed it, but he spends the entire ride terrified of causing some horrible accident.

once they reach the ranger HQ in mauville, reese turns in the linoone. as expected, they find out that it is indeed a lost pokemon, and the rangers there contact the trainer immediately. at least i did a good deed for the day... still, they're exhausted, so they're maybe a little too quick to bid goodbye and take an air taxi back to verdanturf. that was enough adventure for one day, they think.

[ Shalin Nariya ]

mission complete!