Robin's jaw dropped at the sight of the gigantic gengar. She had one too, but she didn't have a stone for him. "How many times have you mega evolved Gengar?" She was so excited to see new tricks. She had trusted Tsubaki's judgement, but the sight of a massive gengar aggressively returning the pokemon to sea was, um, quite something.

"Er, are they really OK?" The wailord were flying. She was starting to feel a little terrified of megas. She'd only done it to Snorlax once and it was in the Ultra Deep Sea. "Does Gengar have, uh, a softer hand?"

Robin watched the swarm through her binoculars. She didn't like to get too close to them because their behavior could be unpredictable when grouped up like this. She didn't want to be victim to a stampede, and she wasn't in a good position for manueverability. She tapped a painted nail against the binoculars as she counted the number of shiny Sneasler. She hadn't seen a Sneasler in the wild before, and all of a sudden there were dozens. "They kind of look like divas, eh?" She smiled as Sinistea chimed beside her.

Robin slapped her colleague on the back. "Nah, reports aren't so bad. But we're definitely editing some of the story," she said in response to Mimi's teasing. No way was she sacrificing her reputation to a Zubat!

Speaking of, a swarm of them suddenly appeared. Robin understood Mimi's panic just fine. "Yeah, yep, we're gonna go!" She snapped her fingers and Sinistea produced aromatic mist which would overwhelm the swarm's limited senses. She grabbed Mimi's hand instinctively and turned tail to run. "We don't need to stick around any longer!"

She moves closer, feeling a bit like a kid pulled from timeout, even if she isn't in trouble for losing. What did she think?

"I didn't have moves to suit a strategy against your Revaroom. Snorlax is largely a heavy-hitter who can do mass damage to large groups or small groups." Indeed, brute force didn't carry her this time. But she was also used to double battles. "I am used to Snorlax fighting on-field with a supportive pokemon who can fix his mobility with ally switch and who can boost his stats. Solo, I don't think I could adapt for his shortcomings."

She felt terrible about it, like she led Snorlax to slaughter, even though they trusted each other too much to believe the other capable of intentionally hurting them.

When the day comes, what are you gonna do?

In one sense, the day had come already. Her first experience fighting Rocket had led to a near-abduction in the ocean routes. She had pushed her pokemon so hard afterwards, nearly breaking them. Gwendolyn Conway had had to snap her out of it. Toxel had woken up the next morning doused in shadow, which was not cured even as he stood Toxtricity now.

She had studied closely under the tutelage of established Ranger Captain Shalin Nariya and Mauville's Gym Leader Josh Devlin for months, visiting ice caves, studying The Border, and learning to ride pokemon. She learned about some of the dangers facing Hoenn from ollie morales like the interdream mist and some of the darker ones like the DRK triad from Greyson Connors . She had thrown herself into being a Ranger completely because she had been rendered defenseless like a non-trainer civilian in those ocean routes.

She had taken to stricter studies, too, like learning about combat from annalise henderson who had prepared her, specifically, for using pokemon against trainers, something she had put to the test in this very battle. She had dedicated herself to repeated trips to the Wilds to learn about their secrets, had found horrific plans to create a manmade pokemon from those visits, and had still found the courage to wake up each day without the fear and cynicism rightfully earned from witnessing darkness and violence.

What was she gonna do?

Her answer hadn't changed from her conversation with Greyson in Area Zero, pursuing DRK triad personnel. "I agreed to fight relentlessly when I accepted this," she said as she tugged on her cadet Ranger armband. "It might be inevitable that I go down or that Hoenn goes down much like Kanto, but it - and I - will not go down without a fight." She thought of Gwen helping her bond with her pokemon after the short-sighted abuse she had inflicted on them, training them to their limit and then some. And she thought of how long it took to come around to the Marshadow that had followed her after it was a Marshadow that nearly killed her and her pokemon in the ocean routes.

It's not a white flag, but she knows Snorlax and herself cannot win this fight single-handedly when they are so outnumbered and overpowered. "Our battle is one I can't win, but I can make sure I don't lose." She could attempt to freeze the water, though the blizzard could not overcome such a sheer volume of water. She had cards to play until her hands were empty, even if none of them contained a winning gambit. "I have learned in this past year that there are forces far beyond my understanding and beyond my abilities as a single trainer. And they might overcome me, but they will overcome me standing."

Talk is cheap, but she's only surrendered once in her lifetime. She's never done it since, and she's recently come to understand that while winning isn't always a choice, she can play to not lose, and it might be all the difference.

Robin tugged on Carracosta's shell to have him lean back as so many people charged in front. She didn't want to risk getting hit and getting knocked off. She had practiced riding with several higher ranking Rangers, but she still wasn't a pro. Riding on the water was an area she was minimally experienced with, as she tended to avoid the ocean altogether these days. Still, she trusted Carracosta to take good care of her.

"Let's do what we can with this current," she assured as they pursued the path. There were quite a few pokemon ahead of the duo, but Robin knew anyone in first place could get knocked into last. Races were unpredictable, so she was far from discouraged.

The Rabsca were a problem, but not for Toxtricity, who was eager and well-performing during the troublesome season of poisonous events. Toxtricity used shift gear and overdrive to amp up the pressure and speed while he assaulted a series of Rabsca. The punk rocker even followed up with boom burst to blast the troublesome bugs away. "Take it easy!" Robin insisted from afar. She was on Snorlax, sitting on his shoulders, as she had become sick from all the poison exposure and needed distance and fresh air where possible.

"Don't tire out before the job's done!" Despite her words, Toxtricity moved faster than ever to bring the pesks down.

Gwen wraps around Robin to get her to stop, but the taller woman gets smacked in the nose by Robin's elbow as she pulls back for another punch. Robin quickly turns to face her instinctively, wild eyes honing in on the way Gwen grabs her nose, and for a moment, for a moment, she considers turning right back to the scientist and knocking his teeth out.

It churns in her stomach like rancid sewage.

"Gwenny, I'm so sorry," she says, reaching out for her friend, bruised knuckles aiming to brush across her cheek. "I didn't - I." Tears well in her eyes, the disgust over her own anger and outburst overwhelming her. She fails to find more comforting words as the scientist scrambles out from underneath Robin and back to his feet.

It feels like there's a clear divide. Choose to tackle the scientist or choose Gwen. It hurts to let a monster out in the wild, but she has to tend to Gwen and the Type: Null. "Gwen... I didn't mean to." She would understand if Gwen leaves for this. After seeing her overwork Munchlax and Toxel after the ocean routes battle and now this, Robin looked like a monster herself.

Sinistea comes in close and nudges against Gwen's face to offer comfort, but Toxtricity doesn't get the memo and runs down the hall to pursue the fleeing scientist and nails him with a potent poison jab.

She doesn't crush the gym leader, thankfully, but then he's on Lizzy's back and rolling around the field. She's not trying to hurt the guy, but Snorlax isn't a precise fighter and it's going to be harder to strike without risking injury to him.

"Shadow pokemon," she murmurs aloud, thoughtfully. Her Toxtricity was a shadow pokemon. It had occurred over night. She had always blamed her negativity after losing to Rocket on the ocean routes. Perhaps people could create shadow pokemon... but it sounded like this guy might have been making duplicates. "How did you survive that fight?" She needed all the advice she could get.

More importantly, the fight gets harder to see because of her spinning, and it leaves Robin with less information to work off of. She barely sees Salamence descend and figures the dragon is a more likely assailant than the spinning Cyclizar. "Fight back if he gets close!" When the Salamence digs those jaws into Snorlax, the brute launches a hammer arm at the dragon.

It won't be long before Dragapult breaks from his ball or the gym leader takes advantage of his riding abilities. Snorlax is outnumbered and outgunned, and there's no chance they pull through on this one. But she can make things difficult. "Let's change the terrain," she instructs.

Much as Snorlax can break the earth or summon a freezing storm, he has one last environmental trick. He raises his arms and generates a massive wave of water, one that sweeps Robin into the rushing water as he uses surf to flood the field.