TO: Josh Devlin (josh.devlin@hoennleague.gov)
CC: Cassandra Mishra (cassandra.mishra@hoennrangers.gov)
MISSION: "The Roselia's Thorns"
PROTOCOL: Search-and-Rescue
DANGER: ★☆☆☆☆

We have received a distress call from a thirteen-year-old female trainer named Rose Kond was cornered by a wild and aggressive Roselia. She managed to climb up a tree and to safety and ward off the Roselia with the help of her Charmander, but her Pokémon is in bad shape and she cannot leave the tree without help. Your mission is to get her to ground level unharmed and bring her back to Petalburg City.

Your objective is as follows:

A) Locate and rescue the missing trainer

Please see attachment for Rose Kond's coordinates.

Good luck! We're all counting on you.

At last, an easy, peaceful ticket. Josh was sick and tired of being assigned Ranger tickets that bordered on Law Enforcement work. Breaking captured Pokémon out of a Rocket lab? Come on! That was Law Enforcement work, one hundred percent! More like work for a superspy you see in all those double-oh flicks that were popular with the previous generation. Either way, he was happy to take on easier work where his true skills shined.

Even more so, Josh could get back to one of his favorite pastimes within the Ranger: passing on his skills to new Rangers such as Cassandra Mishra , whom he and Mirri, the great big Delcatty he was astride, approached. The normal-type mewed to announced her presence, the purple and cream cat standing just about as tall as the average person did. The blue-uniformed Elite Ranger broke down in laughter as the feline TICKLED his back. "Hey, stop it, Mirri!" Josh protested before turning to face the new Ranger.

"I take it you're Cassandra?" Josh asked to confirm. "Elite Ranger Devlin or Gym Leader Devlin, but please, call me Josh. It doesn't get any easier than this for your first ticket. We know where the girl is, there's no known threat to her, and town is close by in case something goes wrong. Did you bring a Pokémon that can climb or fly in tight spaces?"

Josh set Mirri's reins down and threw his hands in the air. "There's no need to be so formal with me!" the Master of Faster insisted. "Don't think of me as your boss - think of me as just another coworker." Part of being a good leader was being approachable. Yes, the power disparity was very real, but he knew how valuable it was to have approachable superiors.

Josh's eyebrows rose noticeably at the mention of a Gyarados. "Is your Gyarados on the smaller side? Their flight can be a bit on the clumsy side. If they can maneuver well, it could work, but something a bit smaller than a Gyarados would be ideal. Like I said, if you don't have a Pokémon for it, I've got you covered." The newbie's concerns about nasty wilds did not go unheard. "There's nothing to worry about. Remember, I've got your back faster than anyone else does. They don't call me the Master of Faster for nothing!"

"No worries," Josh tried to reassure Cassandra. "Your Gyarados will still be helpful when we get clear from the woods and have to take the little one home. Like I said, I have you covered!" The Gym Leader tossed a Poké Ball toward Cassandra's feet, a Flygon emerging from it. The cocoon saddle the creature wore may have beckoned her to hop on if she found riding a Pokémon entertaining; otherwise, the dragon-type would be content to hover between the two Rangers. His wings looked like cones of light as they sounded a pleasant hum from vibrating like an insect's.

"This is Verte," Josh introduced the Flygon. "He's reliable and easy to control. Just be wary of a bit of vibration. You might get a tingling sensation from flying on him." Regardless of travel arrangements, the Gym Leader and his Delcatty led the way toward their destination, his RaiCorp Vision showing him how close he was to his destination. "We shouldn't be too far now. You see her yet?"

Verte chirped to return Cassandra's greeting before crouching to easily let her astride. The cocoon on the Flygon's back would be easy to climb into and zip up, ensuring the guest rider would not fall off. While Josh would encourage her to take advantage of it, the seat on the insectile dragon would accommodate her without taking advantage of the added security. Humming, blurred wings preceded the takeoff, giving the fresh Ranger an idea of just how agile Verte was. While the vibration was far from unbearable, it may have made Cassandra's hair stand on end if she was not used to it.

The girl's vision was impressive; when she called out the location, Josh scanned the nearby area, unable to confirm what she could see. "Where at?" he asked. "I cannot confirm your visual." As Mirri followed Verte, he could faintly see the trapped girl, Rose, as well as the Roselia keeping her there. "Wow, good eye! I don't know how you saw her from so far away. I can take care of the Roselia, and you can scoop Rose up. Sound like a winner?" In practice, it was less of a suggestion and more of an order.

With their duties apparent, Josh hurled a second Poké Ball toward the Roselia, Steel Needle the Gliscor emerging from it. The venomous ground-type menacingly flourished her tail and pincers in an effort to get the wild to back down. If Cassandra were to glance toward Steel Needle, she would see the Gliscor also wearing a saddle on her back. Were all of Josh's Pokémon trained to carry a human?

Cassandra was able to locate and free Rose with relative ease, the girl a little scared of Verte. "M-my Charmander, but she's in bad shape," she answered. "She needs Antidote, bad, and I had to use my last one..." Seeing her trainer in good hands, the fire-type, the tip at the end of its tail looking like mere cinders, desperately crawled toward its partner.

Back on the other side of the tree, the Roselia's thorns were proving to be a lot tougher to handle than he expected. What were such powerful Pokémon doing so close to the road to begin with? Were Rangers dropping the ball on keeping overly strong Pokémon from encroaching upon well-traveled thoroughfares? That was not relevant; the only relevant part of his duty was keeping this Roselia busy long enough for Cassandra to get the girl out of there.

"ACROBATICS, Steel Needle."

The ground-type performed a powerful flip, slamming the blunt end of its tail into the grass-type. They had the upper hand for only a moment, though, triggering a discharge of STUN SPORE from one of its rose-arms and leaving Steel Needle unable to glide.