"Whoa..." Credit where credit's due, the shield was fast and effective. She didn't have any personal shielding. It would be good self-defense. It was especially relevant given how often she was learning about combatants attacking trainers directly during battle. A shield that close would be invaluable.

And then he pulled a knife.

"Hey, hey, whoa now." She put her hands up in a placating motion. "No need to hurt yourself, dude, I believe Comfey can heal, OK?" But there was no stopping a Greyson who had made up his mind. She flinched at the redness that split his palm.

She wasn't following his comment at first, but then she burst into a big grin. "Yeah, I am the luckiest! We're a dream team." She and Gwen had been through countless troubles, but they always came up on top.

She blinked owlishly as he slapped his hands on her shoulders, sounding tense as he assigned a new plan of action: get the hell out of dodge. "Er, ok! Let's go!" She followed him and Urshifu as they cleared the crowd. She saw a few Blacephalon approaching from the side. She tossed Toxtricity's pokeball their way. "Tox, use psychic noise!" The punk rock pokemon aimed to overwhelm their hearing (and hopefully avoid their heads falling off).

"We're almost there," Robin said excitedly. The riot around them really made her want a picture -- chaotic selfies tended to stress Gwen out, but they were also really fun to take and really fun to laugh about when the two Rangers got together. Robin would explain the situation and defend her selfie decision and Gwen would give her the disbelieving eyebrow.

Quietly, she pitched: "Maybe a quick picture before we totally get outta here?"

Gyms left a bitter taste in her mouth after her last loss against Josh. His disqualification burned like a scarlet letter against her skin. Losing to Gwyar had at least taught her something. All she had learned in the quick badge battle was that Josh thought her shadow Toxtricity thirsted for war and blood. He was a good pokemon, loyal despite the status that befell him as a Toxel. He was chaotic, but he wasn't a bad guy.

When she saw a lesson popping up while she was in the area, she decided she had nothing to lose. She filtered into the gym for a lesson in self-defense with a sour mood, but she hoped she would glean some wisdom. Maybe she could get her mojo back and get ready to challenge him again... but she still needed to play with some strategies. She had been hoping to bring Toxtricity against Gwyar, but if he reacted the same way, she wouldn't know how to take it. She couldn't abandon Toxtricity. He was a good pokemon.

Things came to a close at last. Absalom's pokemon were well-matched against the psychic. As Oranguru's power lost its hold on Tropius, the grass type immediately calmed. Robin patted his shoulder comfortingly. "All better, big guy?" She rejoined with Absalom with a big smile. She loved a happy ending, but more importantly, she was really glad such a dangerous psychic type was handled. She wasn't sure why a wild pokemon would act this way unprompted.

"I'm a little worried this is evidence of Rocket smuggling. It seems to be their MO to use psychic assaults to control pokemon for sale later." But Absalom was right about leaving the Oranguru alone -- it was too dangerous. "I'll call it in. It needs to be examined for any tampering given how unusual its behavior has been." She pinged a pick-up team with her Rotom phone and left a comment about her suspicions.

She considered Absalom's assessment of the trainer who lost their Tropius. "I wish Rocket had less of a hold here. Then, people wouldn't need to be so extra-cautious." She wished more than anything that she could clear Hoenn from their devious deeds.

Robin felt empowered by Thea's enthusiasm. She was also eager to hear the pokemon concert, so she steeled herself against its sleepy prowess and listened as the two serenaded the Pawmos. One by one, dozens of them started dozing off. Marshadow and Gengar fell in line with Thea's other pokemon and started rounding up unconscious rodent pokemon and pounding conscious ones into the dust. The dual approach was really effective against the horde!

Robin could still feel her eyes getting droopy. Sinistea came over and pressed herself against Robin's face to try and keep the Ranger from getting comfortable enough to fall asleep on her feet. "That's a nice tune..." She yawned. The sleeping Pawmos looked so comfortable. She kind of wanted to lean against the tree with them.

"How do you feel about a nap right now? I don't think they shock in their sleep." She really wanted to cuddle up with the Pawmo pile and catch some Z's.

Her best?

She wasn't about to drop a catastrophe at the docks. Though, it was primarily Snorlax who ran the risk of largescale disasters because of how powerful his moveset was. Sinistea could still pack a punch. "Um. If you insist?" Greyson was kind of a strange guy. She shared a look with Sinistea. "Go ahead," she urged. Sinistea launched a shadow ball at Greyson and his Comfey.

Sinistea nudged at her arm to push the drink past Robin's face as the trainer went for a sip. "Sin," Robin warned. The ghost looked completely unapologetic. "You are so petty." Her pokemon looked vaguely smug. Robin just shook her head. Her sweet little ghost was growing up right before her eyes and picking stupid things to argue about. But Robin would always put up with it. She had raised Sinistea from an egg. It was hard to say no to her precious baby. And Sinistea was shaping up to be a perfect ace pokemon, so it was hard to be anything but accommodating.

Deprived of kettle corn, Robin needed a new treat to walk the fair with. "Thoughts on milk tea?" She asked Sinistea, who chimed an affirmative. "That's what I'm talking about." She winked at her partner and purchased one that was honey-flavored. She kept a wary eye out for a thieving Granbull, but all she got was a Comfey riding the breeze and falling onto her face. She struggled to dislodge the small floral fairy and stumbled down the path as its strong, sweet scent disoriented.

She sneezed, dislodging it, but not before she had staggered and stepped on some poor Luxray's tail. She immediately flinched backward, apologetic. To the Luxray, she said: "I am so sorry! I promise I'm not that clumsy. It was this guy," she said as she displayed the Comfey that was attached to her arm like glue. She shook it a little, but the little guy was quite attached. She turned to his trainer more sheepishly. "Can I get you guys something? I don't want you to leave with a hurt Luxray as your only keepsake from the fair." Not that she'd stomped on him, but still. The principle!

Free of sharpedo, skrelp, and any other nuisance, the duo are able to resurface with ease. Robin removes her headgear before using Phione to get back on the pier. "Wow, that was so much easier with a water specialist." She laughed. It was nice to have assistance here since she had so few water types on her roster. Besides, he had seemed so comfortable underwater.

"I'll have to call you at my next forest fire," she said half-teasing. She had Snorlax for most disasters, but surf was often a larger move than the situation required, and she didn't like to drown local wildlife while putting out smaller flames. "Call me if you're ever haunted, man." She grinned and gestured a phone to her ear with her hand spread in a y-sign. "Catch ya on the flip side." Phione mimicked her two-finger salute (sans fingers, of course), and the duo scurried off. She would be barely out of sight when his phone would ping with her number and the comment: handle the incident report, will ya?

Robin laughs with relief into her respirator as he asks how she's doing. "Never - urgh - better!" As she reports her status, she lobs the fallen rock away from the entrance. Dozens of Luvdisc scurry out of the hole where they'd been trapped. A few even stop by Robin's face and nuzzle her scuba mask before swimming off. "Mission complete!" She states as she offers Phione a high-five.

She turns to help push back the remaining aquatic predators. Phione uses moon blast to push a nosy skrelp away. "We're good to resurface," she announces as she watches the colorful school of Luvdisc escape into the dark abyss.

Robin's brow furrows as he lays out the impact of propaganda, but as soon as the topic is there, it's gone. He releases a Comfey and speaks of her like she's his pride and joy. She can't help the snort that comes from her. "Sorry, sorry," she backpedals, "I just... isn't she a little small?" She'd seen the fairy's work long ago with the injured kid, but still, wasn't she more for cuts and bruises than anything drastic?

"I just mean, can she really manage triage in a disaster? I would think a larger pokemon like a Clefable would be a safer choice, especially with how tanky they can be." Though, her Sinistea was an incredibly small pokemon that packed a huge punch. Sinistea was her ace.

"You don't need any," Robin argued as she tugged the milk tea close to her chest. Sinistea chimed disagreeably. "You're literally a possessed drink." Robin stared her pokemon down. Sinistea, however, pressed herself closer to the straw. "No!" She defensively sucked on the straw to savor some of the sweet cinnamon flavor. "I have berries for you. No milk tea." Sinistea huffed in response.