Shalin's four major joints were still red with a dull pain, though they no longer screamed after being hurled and flung about from dorian westcliff 's Sygna experiment. She remembered how loudly her body cried out; what was once the most fun she ever had with a Pokémon had nearly ended her life. There was a reason a Power Whip was a dangerous weapon and not a carnival ride... at least, without the protection of her Sygna Suit.

Seeing the Admin face to face, she tensed up, briefly shaking before voicing her concerns. "Why me? And why Petalburg?" she asked, gently rubbing her knees to try to relax them.

Why me?

There was no particular reason. If she was too blind to see that, then the ranger was a fool. She had been a ranger of rank and had survived the falling rubble, thus she had been clapped in irons until a trade could be made with the Pokémon League.

Her second question was one worth answering.

"Because it was easy and exposed. If we took Dewford, the Elite Four's town would've been ridiculously easy to crack. If we took Rustboro, we would have to contend with Cian. Petalburg has no Gym Leader. Its forces were scattered, to the point where its defenders were children and untested civilians."

And because the admin had been ordered to.

"There was you, but I did not see you on the field. You fought well, I've heard." He gestured around the cell. "Not well enough."

He put a hand on his hip.

"Is that all? I conquered the city, but there's no particular reason for it. I would've done the same to Rustboro or Dewford or Slateport, if ordered. I wasn't. Thus I'm here. You should be thanking me, given what emerged from underneath the city during the battle."

---

Shalin Nariya

The purpose of Shalin's question was to gain insight into what value she had to Rocket. It was clear after speaking with both Chu-e Choi and Lulu Flint that she was no more than a bargaining tool, an asset to negotiate a prisoner exchange with the League... just as the league held bryan delarosa as their own prisoner of war.

"That's because I was busy wrangling that Toxic Chained bird," Shalin recalled. "And I was so close, too. Would have been mine, were it not for what your forces did." Were there still a few of Fezandipiti's pheromones afflicting her? From the look on her face, she seemed genuinely interested in the poison and fairy-type. Had her fateful ride on the aerial member of the Loyal Three poisoned her mind?

Shalin rolled her eyes at Howard's bold request. Why should she thank him? There was little to be thankful for. The city had been leveled. She knew about his command over Regice. "You're asinine to think I should be thanking you for leveling downtown Petalburg," she scowled. "You haven't just made their lives miserable. Oldale and Littleroot depend on Petalburg's Rangers when their smaller forces can't handle it. And now, they're on their own."

"Correct. They're easier to conquer, now. Cian has stepped down as Rustboro's Gym Leader and the rangers are spread thin, and still the League looks eastward towards Sootopolis and Kyogre." The Rocket Admin made a point to not chuckle at the mention of the bird, now that it was in Rocket's clutches. "You've explained why our conquest has been a resounding success."

There wasn't much of a reason for him to play kind with this woman. No reason to lie, no reason to hide anything. She was Team Rocket's, and as long as he didn't reveal Rocket's secrets he could blab as he wished. Really, who would believe Shalin Nariya?

"Petalburg was given to us. The League valued Sootopolis more than they valued your city. You were forgotten, and the people here will not be remembered as the League cheers of their hollow victory." He smiled wryly at her from beneath his helmet. "They're celebrating their victory, even now. A ceasefire. One that Petalburg did not get to experience.""

He spread his hands graciously, before clenching a fist.

"I tame Regirock, and this is how you thank me? Because I was too slow, it leveled the city. Because I was fast enough, I saved a swath of it. You're welcome, Shalin. Perhaps I should be Petalburg's Ranger Captain now."

---

Shalin Nariya

Shalin's eyes widened. Cian had stepped down without picking a replacement? What a horrible mistake the League had made; they had left Hideo Kino defending western Hoenn all by his lonesome. Their central location had split Josh Devlin 's and DESIREE BLOOMS ' attention between west and east. Perhaps they were overvaluing Kyogre, too, determined to recover the leviathan's loyalry after skyler dross and angelo vestri fled Hoenn. "CIAN MAHER wouldn't step down without finding a replacement first," the Captain insisted. "He's been Rustboro's Gym Leader for a long time. He knows how important his role is." Rocket likely did, too... which may have been why they were so quick to pounce on the port city and stake their claim on the mainland.

The distressed girl rolled her eyes at the demeaning admin. "Don't try that with me. You would sooner disband the Petalburg Rangers than be a Captain. What is being a Ranger to you?" To Shalin, it was conserving people and Pokémon from disasters, both natural like Hurricane Yellen that hit Ever Grande's south hard, as well as man-made ones like the devastation of her city. The city she wasn't around to defend.

She protested defeat. He wouldn't blame her. This was the courage expected from people attempting to defend their home. It was commendable, and yet her attempt had earned her nothing but tears of despair.

"They'll be swept away, naturally. Petalburg doesn't need rangers, anymore. Maybe when Hoenn is conquered, we'll reorganize them while keeping the name. The fall of government has always been a silent affair." Howard put a hand in his pocket and shook his head. "I have a city to rebuild."

His punishment for killing Elisabeth. His reward when the city revived itself as a domain of splendor.

"Any other questions?" Howard crossed his arms and tucked his chin against his chest. "Any other blames to place at my feet? You can accuse me of anything you want, and I'm probably guilty of it. Not that it matters, though."

He let out a laugh.

"The victor will decide who is guilty."

---

Shalin Nariya

The man before the Captain was heartless. Cold and calculated as a Gholdengo 500 CEO that never considered the human element. To him, and to Rocket as a whole, only two things seemed to matter: political power and the bottom line. "The Rangers do more than you think they do. Who is going to quell unruly wild Pokémon? Who is going to keep Hoenn's delicate ecosystem from overrunning Petalburg? Who is going to rescue your own men when something untoward happens to them far from the city?"

She doubted any of those arguments would work. People and Pokémon were but tools to Rocket. To the syndicate, survival of the fittest was the law of the land. Those who did not pull their weight in life would have it taken from them, whether Pokémon or human.

"We will."

His hand paused on the door as he spoke, his words contemplative as he pondered her words. In the world where Team Rocket won, they would need to reinforce the region they had destroyed with their own hands. What Howard destroyed, he would rebuild. That was the vow he had taken when being placed here.

"We destroyed your town. I destroyed it. To make up for that sin, I'll return it to how it once was. I can't bring back the lives that were lost, but given enough generations, history will smooth that wrinkle for me." A chuckle escaped his lips. "There will come a day when people and Pokémon can live under the same sky."

He banged on the door, and it creaked open.

"The rangers are preservers. Truthfully, they've done nothing wrong. It's just that we live in an era of change. They're also just a group. You don't need to be a ranger to help save the world." He stepped out. "We just need to be better."

---

Shalin Nariya

Generations passing would restore the population to what it once was, yes, but it would not bring back the countless lives, human and Pokémon, that had been taken on that awful day. "Upending an entire city doesn't help people and Pokémon live together in harmony," the Captain argued.

Her tone became a lot less antagonistic when he heard Howard's understanding of the Rangers. It was how she was, too; she made a huge difference in the region without being in the position of power she was in. It was only when boruta maher not only vacated Rustboro's Captain seat, but ollie morales suggested she apply for it, was how she got there. "I did work for the Rangers long before I formally joined them," Shalin revealed, carrying on a more conversational tone now. "You know early last year, it was discovered how to hatch Ultra Beast eggs, and the energy needed was right below Sootopolis? That was me that discovered it."