Rustboro was not a favorite of Robin's as she had no good memories and the industrial setting was headache-inducing. Still, there was an excellent fruit tea shop that she stopped by each time she was in the area. Sipping away at the cherri flavored drink, she walked alongside Sinistea to get away from the city. Her pace was a little quicker than leisurely because she was eager to escape the smoke-riddled sky above. It was a mood-killer. Sinistea chimed happily alongside her, however, and made the trip much more tolerable.

"Remember our Nickit-now-Thievul? This guy's got a winter coat on." Robin thought both colorings were pretty. She tossed a pokeball at the Nickit, but it dodged the ball. Sinistea used poltergeist to possess the pokeball, throwing it at the back of the fox pokemon's head. The pokemon flinched. Then, Sinistea opened the ball and triggered its capture mechanism as she fled the item. The pokeball consumed the Nickit as Sinistea returned to Robin's side.

"Ah, I have enough antidote for the poison, but... the cuts and bites won't heal from it. Your pokemon will be greatly helpful." Everyone descended from the tree, and Toxtricity finally shook the unconscious teen loose and carried him down in a way that didn't enable any dignity, so it was good the kid was totally out.

Robin poured some antidote onto a cloth and offered it to Thea and her primate pokemon. "Take this. It should neutralize anything in your system." Then, she looked over the teenager for any bruises or cuts. He didn't seem injured until she rolled him onto his stomach and saw the back of his head. There was a growing bump. "Ah, this guy got conked out hard." Thea's pokemon's healing pulse would assist with the healing, but he needed to be dropped off in town properly.

"Time's of the essence with a head injury."

She needed to take off her friend hat and put on her tactician hat. She had witnessed a lot of excellent fighters, but she had not taken notes. "Okay," she said after processing everything, "I think I could get some use out of that seminar." His words weren't overly-encouraging. It was kind of nice. He wasn't dealing with her with kid gloves on. At least, not totally on. He was treating her like a trainer that could be a peer.

Champion wasn't the goal, but being better than she was before was everything to her. "See you then," she said as a farewell, holding the pokeball of Snorlax tight.

Robin worked carefully. She flinched in sympathy as the other woman talked about her shoulder. "I have an antidote for any potential poison, but I don't have any pokemon that know healing pulse or anything. It's, um, something I'm working on." She needed to work on collecting some fairy types before things got dire. Or some grass, she supposed.

"The Ariados have gone totally haywire... oh? This will just take time. No need to rush; I am sure you're dizzy. You should feel totally normal in a few hours. Some berries could accelerate that, uh, maybe." She wasn't a medical practitioner or anything. Another thing to work on. Damn.

She repeated the other's name thoughtfully. Then, "Robin Coello, at your service." She helped Thea's pokemon down from their entanglements. They needed to safely descend from the tree and carry the teenager that was unconscious and... take account of everything.

Josh's pokemon are fast, just as she suspected. Charizard doubling down on his speed was bad news, but she didn't have easy means to bring him down. She could, however, aim for an area-based attack. Boltund charged for Toxtricity, but ever-sacrificing Sinistea used ally switch to take his place and take the bite. "Bring the party to 'em!" Toxtricity almost shivered at the command, excited to do what he did best.

He generated a loud room-filling noise with boom burst, something she was glad she had witnessed several times prior so it no longer caused her vertigo upon exposure. She was very sympathetic to Loudred trainers...

"Don't keep that Charizard outta reach for long!" She shouts. It's not great to egg on Josh, as he's got a decent advantage as a well-established and awarded trainer, but she loves a little bit of trash talk, and she is curious to see what his Charizard can do.

Noah uttered something looking at the mural and, automatically, Robin responded, "Bless you."

She blushed at his question. Did she want to be a gym leader? It was a huge responsibility. She would be responsible for staying in one place more than she did. It was kind of terrifying, the prospect of actually putting down roots. "Erm, it's a possibility..." She struggled to think of something to say until he mentioned Gwen. She perked right up.

"The Gwendolyn Conway , Master of Technology and Remedying Soups? Why, yes, I have heard of her." Robin gesticulated wildly as she gushed, "She's the bestest best friend ever. She helped me when I was super sick and totally on death's door. That soup, by the way, utterly incredible. I think if Rocket knew about it, they would lay siege to like, everything, to get it. Um, she's got this Magneton that's super cool; she was totally heading in this tech direction and maybe even being a professor, but like, she hung out with freya morningstar and became a huge dragon nerd recently."

Robin had mixed feelings on the dragon thing, but she was glad Gwen was finding some confidence. "Gwen's literally the greatest. You're very lucky to have crossed paths with her. She's super sweet and thoughtful and always down for an adventure. She's, um, really special." Robin felt flustered at the end, failing to think of another word that could describe her best friend better than special.

The lights flickered sharply, casting a burning (and unflattering) light in the building and outside of it, illuminating the streets as if it were a sunny day. Her stomach dropped at the sight through the busted windows in the lobby. This building was a lighthouse and the Blacephalon armies outside were lost ships at sea just dying to, er, pop their heads off and explode...

Oh, geez.

"Hey! Get outta the flowers!" Toxtricity snapped at a too-close combee, feeling defensive against the buzzing swarm. Robin sent out Sinistea who generated aromatic mist in the area to improve defensive stats. The sweet-smelling mist disrupted the swarm, confusing the bees who relied on their sense of smell for flowers and even to determine the location of their hive.

"Mister, let's get you out. The 'bees are stingin'!" She didn't want to send out Snorlax to grab and manhandle him, especially because the normal-type would smash a bunch of flowers, but she didn't want him to bump into the confused combees and get stung further.

His words lightly cover a deep and dark history of resistance against Rocket that has, to at least some extent, been futile. They all lost Kanto. Even now, they were struggling to cinch Hoenn's safety. It could be a question with no answer, if Rocket is larger than itself, if it's representative of anyone and anything that wants to disrupt social order. She doesn't know. It's all so big. She signed up to help with the reputation of ghost pokemon, and she found herself scrambling in larger battles every day.

"Sea defenses," she says instead of voicing any of her real thoughts, "that's a good start." She releases phione and ferrothorn. His pin missile can help pin together whatever phione weaves and places.

"I need to invest in some trap-making pokemon. I think toxic spikes could be helpful for defending the city." She rubbed at her chin as she thought. "You think they'll put off a strong sea front?"

The scene unfolded before her confirmed her strategy. She didn't wanna fight with anyone for a good spot. At least, not until the end. She was surprised the other challengers were so prepared with competitive pokemon like Goliospod and with tech like Sygna Suits. Thankfully, Robin was facing any of those... Just the ocean.

Carracosta braved the current, but there was so much race ahead of them. "Keep powering on," she praised Carracosta. "We're doing great."

Weird.

"Do you see that guy?" Robin points at the Yamask ahead of them that isn't holding a mask at all. "I thought they all carried masks..." Sinistea floated ahead and chimed something that the Yamask seemed to understand. The two of them communicated, though Robin could not follow along word for word as a human. Her affinity for ghosts left her with a good idea of what was being said, but she couldn't be totally sure. Still, after a few moments, both floated back to her with pleased dispositions. "Say less," Robin responded with cheer. A new ghost for the squad was always welcome.