Her partner was a ninja! Or maybe she just wasn’t paying enough attention. Either way, wide eager eyes found themselves trained on a stranger soon enough. A quiet stranger, in comparison to her. “And you’re old!” Once she’d returned the comment, she gestured to her little buddy, offering the party a cheery grin. “This here’s Geist. The only thing he’s better at than fighting is dancing! He’s got a trick up his sleeve that should help us out a lot today.” A jerked thumb jabbed itself against her chest; the slightest squeeze of her eyes told that she may have hurt herself in her enthusiasm. “And I’m Annie Mei. Owner of Camp Annie and up-and-coming trainer extraordinaire.” Humble, as always.

“I was thinking that if New Mauville’s as big as they say, we’re not going to be able to get them out quietly. Nah, my plan is to make them understand that hanging around is going to be more trouble than its worth. That’s going to call for a few fisticuffs. Since I doubt any of them will be happy to be shoved out. You’re a good fighter, right? Right.” She didn’t bother waiting for an answer. “Because I’m guessing we’re going to get swarmed, fast. That’s where Lady Geist comes in.”

The Marowak stepped forward to greet the woman’s serpents, raising her free hand in a lazy wave. “She’s a natural Lightning Rod – she gets stronger off electric-type attacks, and more importantly, she draws them in from all around her. It shouldn’t be strong enough to cause trouble to the plant, but it might redirect some of the electricity those wilds are trying to suck to her. Most importantly, most of the Pokemon in there won’t be able to use their strongest attacks as long as she’s out, which means we don’t have to worry about getting electrocuted, and the rest of our Pokemon have a lot less to worry about. Eventually, the squatters realise they’re getting nowhere fast in a fight, spread the word and start to pack their bags. Simple plan, right?” Her smile hadn’t wavered throughout the briefing, showing no doubt in her plan or the other woman’s strength.

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If Annie had known that her partner had a specific preference for Pokemon, she could have brought along Sir Pent and Krystal. Then again, Serperior and Dragonair might not be the best choices against a swarm of electric Pokemon. She’d had to keep it in mind for the future, anyway. “Nice to meet you all, but I don’t think that’s right! You don’t have a camp… Not with that attitude. Your home or camp is wherever you make it.” She knew that better than most, considering that hers moved as she did, with the wind and her whims.

She might have commented on how the woman didn’t look half as happy as her partners, but the summoned Onix was a slight distraction. Annie was left with her mouth hanging agape as her and her Marowak stared up at the behemoth. “…Right. Well, good thing he’s on our side!” Even docile, an Onix managed to be an intimidating presence. It wouldn’t last, though. If there was one thing Annie was good at, it was a quick recovery from anything that wasn’t a smile on her face. She turned to face the cave entrance and marched in behind the ranger.

Eyes were upon them the moment they entered New Mauville. The plant attracted a certain kind of clientele, and it was painfully obvious that none of their party fit the bill. That was enough of a reason for those closest to the cave mouth to cast their glare upon the group, and if not… Annie would help.

“Alright zapper bugs, time to pack your bags! New Mauville is closed! Actually, it’s been closed for a while. You guys have just been trespassing!” Times like those, Annie’s loud mouth came in handy. More eyes popped out from behind corners and machinery; zaps of electricity became less frequent as the feeders watched the disturbance.

“You butts can move out in an orderly fashion, or you can get moved as we kick you out! Which one is it going to be?” Two seconds of silence told that it was going to be the latter, judging by the bolts of lightning that started flying towards them. Geist dived several feet to the group’s left, raising her club to act as their Lightning Rod. A flurry of electric attacks redirected in mid-air to fry the Marowak… Or would have, had her ability not caused the bolts to supercharge her instead. Geist looked to Annie, awaiting orders as her body cackled with sparks. In return, she looked to Kaida and her Pokemon, waiting to see if her Pokemon would join the fray.

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Things seemed to be going to plan. None of the squatters could land a hit as long as Geist was nearby, just as planned. Then one of the Magnemite had a spark of genius. It charged a metallic orb of energy and fired that instead. It hit its mark, sending Marowak sliding back a few feet. She was still standing, but both her and her trainer shared the same, brief look of panic.

Somehow, Annie had forgotten to account for the fact that electric-type Pokemon might have moves that weren’t electric.

Kaida’s words were given a new sense of urgency as the wild beasts started talking to each other. The strategy was spreading, and they had seconds before they would be under fire. Never one to let trouble show on her face for long, the girl forced her brave face on. She had a partner, she told herself, and she had her Pokemon. They were going to be fine.

When she spoke again, her ever-overjoyed tone had been switched for an air of authority. It was the kind of change that told her Marowak that playtime was over. “Geist, you’re on the offensive. Put that lightning to work and Bone Rush them!” A dozen bolts of lightning empowered the bone clones she created. Between that and the type advantage, it was fortunate that her strikes only knocked out some of the dwellers she lobbed them at.

The attacks didn’t earn them any favours with the crowd, but given that they were seconds from an all-out brawl, Annie figured she might as well bring out the big guns. She didn’t give much of a second thought to summoning Frankie, though she might have if her guest partners reacted strongly. Between a chimeric design, piercing eyes adorned by a partially cracked helmet and the fact that it towered over its trainer, there was a lot to take in.

Not that Annie was leaving them much time to stare. “Frankie, can you help? Gentle attacks, just to scare them out of the area.” It didn’t respond. Not verbally, anyway. Instead it sped off, committed to its new task. The first Elektrike that stood in its way found himself on the bad end of an Iron Head and sent flying six feet back. The Vikavolt that tried to face the beast was swiped out of the air by a rough Dragon Claw. Frankie didn’t quite seem to understand what ‘gentle’ meant, but it had managed to stop short of maiming his targets. Thus far. Its strength and his body made for an intimidating presence, to say nothing of the squad of Pokemon backing it up. The tides had turned back to their side.

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If there was one good thing Annie could say about her beast’s quirks, it was that it committed to a task, it did so wholeheartedly. Frankie didn’t acknowledge the hostilities, for it was too busy taking on a Magnezone. And winning, for what it was worth. It was left to Annie to defend her monstrosity, and she did. Loudly. “That’s my buddy Frankie, and it’s kicking butt!” Her words were punctuated by four hundred pounds of metal crashing against the floor. Frankie’s latest victim was down for the count.

The electric dwellers understood that they were being invaded, and worse, they didn’t have the manpower to stop it. Pokemon that had yet to join the fray opted to rush past it, fleeing rather than being forced out. Geist and the serpents pestered the stubborn ones into leaving or unconsciousness, while Frankie clearly favoured the latter. When he ran low on targets (and briefly set his gaze on Kaida’s partners), it fell on Annie to clarify: “If they’re leaving, leave them alone! Don’t touch those guys either!” She pointed to her allies as the rock snake’s rumbles passed through. Without so much as a sound, Frankie turned and rammed it head into a rodent. Hopefully that Pikachu hadn’t had a big lunch.

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Frankie was, by definition, a Pokemon – on that, Kaida was correct. Annie wasn’t in much of rush to comb over the details, and if all went to plan, their mission would mean that she didn’t have to. Battle cries had turned to panicked calls, and soon enough Geist couldn’t find a Pokemon that wasn’t already on its way out. The Null took a little longer to figure that out, mostly because it would strike at anything that showed a moment’s hesitation. It wasn’t quite what Annie had intended, but the brute force helped send the electric-types packing.

The battle ended, not with a bang, but with the fading calls of wild Pokemon, perhaps punctuated by Kjoll’s calls. Half a dozen wild Pokemon lay unconscious on the floor, at least five of them thanks to an eager chimera. Geist returned to her trainer first, and found herself rewarded with pats on the head. “Great job! Didn’t go exactly to plan, but you kept your cool and helped us win it anyway!”

Frankie came to a halt before the girl, its expression unchanged. She’d had the beast long enough that its stare did nothing to her smile. Instead, it too was treated to loving pets, only on its side instead of atop a head she could barely reach. “Nicely done, big guy! I think we still need to work on the whole ‘restraint’ thing, but nothing’s dead, right?” Annie knew better than to expect a reaction from it, so a quiet, muffled “Sival” brought out her grin. “That’s the spirit! We’ve all got room to improve.”

She hadn’t forgotten about Kaida. Once she was done praising her partners, the trio approached the ranger. “Thanks for your help there, Miss Kaida! Something tells me those Pokemon won’t be coming back to this part of the plant any time soon, and we’ve got your little tails to thank for that!” Geist offered a quiet cheer. Frankie stared. “You’ll be alright getting back to the city, right? If you need help getting back to dry land, I bet my Lapras could ferry you over.”

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She nodded to the woman, several times in a row, before turning back to her partner Pokemon. “Great job as always, team. I’ll see you for dinner, alright?” With that, both were returned to their Pokeballs. Annie, it seemed, felt comfortable enough with the near-stranger to let her Pokemon handle any surprise attacks.

“No problem, no problem! Let’s just slide out of here. New Mauville’s massive, from what I’ve heard, so there might be guys hiding deeper in, ready to jump us. Still, we did a lot of work at the front, and those electrics’ll think twice about settling in.” Annie strolled out into daylight, offering a wave to the Onix as they re-emerged. With a beast like Frankie in her ranks, perhaps it was no surprise that she’d recovered so quickly from her first encounter with an Onix.

From there, it was but a few minutes’ walk to the water’s edge, most of which Annie filled with words. Many, many words.
“Seriously, who would’ve thought that the electric-types would use not-electric moves?”
“Whereabouts are you headed from here? I bet you’ve got yourself a cool place to stay!”
“What’s being a ranger like? Is the pay good?”
“Frankie’s getting a lot better with people now! Thanks for only freaking out a little!”
“If Melody’s singing bothers you, you can ask her to stop! She’s really smart, and doesn’t mind too much.”
“What’s with you and all the tail Pokemon, anyway?”

Eventually (and perhaps fortunately, depending on how well Kaida took to Motor Mouth Mei), she ran out of land. Her Lapras was sent out, greeting the party with a gentle croon. The girl turned back to her senior. “Alright, Melody here could carry both of us, but I don’t know how comfortable you are with that. Either way, it’s only a few minutes from here back to the main route, and from there it’s not long to Regular Mauville.”

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