Most times, the Rangers were sent out to handle particularly strong, or violent Pokémon and to take them in for rehabilitation if said Pokémon was too much of a danger to be left out in the wild.

However, today was one of the times that required a certain bit of… finesse, so to speak, when it came to handling livestock Pokémon in particular. Lars could only take a guess as to who the couple was that had sent out the request since they needed help with their Combee.

Well, can you blame me if I’m not a native of this city? I grew up in Eastern Hoenn, so… he thought as he stopped over at the local Pokémon Center and swapped out his team for something that required said ‘finesse’ with handling Combee.

Once the team was secured, he then checked his PokéGear for the location, before heading out to where the honey farm was located.

Lars was completely not expecting to encounter a very particular someone upon his arrival at the designated place, a very quaint honey farm on the outskirts of the city.

“Well—I wasn’t expecting to meet you here,” he began, his sights landing upon who his companion for the day would be.

“It’s not just violent Pokémon encounters in the wild we handle, you know,” he began with a slight rub on the back of his neck with his free hand. “Even small things like this would merit our assistance too, since it involves Pokémon as well,” he added a few moments later.

The place is small enough, quaint. The smell of honey permeates the area. It’s a touch sweet, tingly—and at the same time, he can’t help but notice that there’s something definitely off about the situation at hand.

“Been busy, on the most part. Even if I’m already Head Ranger, the work isn’t going to stop piling up. With such a vast region to cover, we have to make sure everything is safe for everyone, you know.”

Turning to the couple, he then turned his attention back to the other man.

“So where’s our troublemaker? I know this requires some form of finesse since there are Combee involved.”

“What about you?” he inquired of the other. The last time he’d actually seen the man was during the hospital visit, and then from that point things got more than a little sour with him and a certain other Ranger…

Well, he had already tried to make amends with the other person involved, but he wasn’t sure if she was the easily-forgiving type, or the one who would hold an immense grudge and wish nothing but foul misfortune on him. Either way…

“What’s kept you busy for so long, you all but disappeared from the public eye,” he followed up as he fell in step with him, keeping up as they headed out to their first target. “Rarely do public figures like yourself vanish for an extended period of time,” he added quietly, just so the exchange was between them both.

He didn’t see the point of involving anyone else with the way their discussion was going for the moment.

“That’s understandable,” he continued in the same quiet voice. He was area of the previous champion’s circumstances for stepping down; and the same had applied to him as well.

“I wouldn’t necessarily call it cursed, it would be just… well, family always comes first, no matter what happens,” he replied. “Wish I could say the same for myself, though,” he added with a light chuckle.

Maybe he had said a little too much there? Who knew? Either way…

“I heard about what happened to your father—apologies if my condolences come so late, as I wanted to deliver them in person. I’m still… concerned who would have wanted him dead.”

Then again, everyone would be, considering how unexpected the circumstances of the man’s death were, he thought to himself in the back of his mind.

“I wouldn’t want to be so informal as to just send you a message—I mean, after how much your family’s company has done for Rustboro, it’s the least I can do even if it’s rather late,” he said with a sheepish look on his face.

Maybe it was for the better the man he was currently working with had been away from the region for some time.

“A lot has happened since you left, you know,” he supplied, reaching around in his pocket before pulling out a very pink Love Ball. Ridiculous as it looked, this held the Pokémon that could easily smoke out whatever was causing the Combee to become protective and evasive as of late.

“Th—thank you, really. For that offer. There’s too much that’s happened lately and we’re spread thin as it is,” he mused, waiting for the signal to send out their Fire-types so they could start working.

Now that they’ve gotten to their first location, it was time for a little work. Flicking the pink ball to full size, a Delphox appears from the beam of red light and unfurls herself to full standing glory.

“Don’t set your torch on fire too much, Emma,” he reminded the Delphox—once the stick she carried with her was set alight, she approached the enclosure and slowly waved around the torch that was ablaze, hopefully driving out the remaining Combee in the area.

“What—what makes you say that? How can you not make up for… for lost time? Did it—did it make you look unreliable in the eyes of the rest of the League?” he asked the other man quietly as he kept his eyes on the Delphox, now circling around the enclosure and holding the flame, watching as several more Combee fled from the warmth.

“They—they clearly aren’t taking things seriously when family is involved,” he continued in the same quiet tone. This was why he kept most of his own family records a secret from the League in general—they didn’t need to know how much of a fuck-up his father was, and how… how the older man had killed the woman he had married.

“Sure, the League would care for results, but at the same time, sometimes they overlook when their own personal lives are in trouble. At least that’s what I think,” he added a few moments later.

Keeping an eye on his Delphox, a few more stray Combee were smoked out when the flames of her torch came closer to where the others had initially been hiding.

“How… how’re you and Stormy?” he asked presently, wondering if bringing that up was a good idea at the moment.