The call connects, and Lance finally sees the faces of Commander Minami and Professor Oak appear on his screen. Professor Oaks' laboratory walls are cluttered with various machinery, wires, and pipes. Minami, on the other hand, sits in a pristinely decorated office, much like Lance himself.

  “Greetings.” Lance gave a courteous bow, which both Professor and Commander reciprocated, “It is good that both of you found the time for this meeting, especially you, Professor Oak. I know how much work the beginning of the circuit year is for a professor.”

  Rubbing the back of his head, the Professor nodded along with a harmless smile, “Ah, do not worry. It isn’t so dramatic that I can’t spare the time to join in on this meeting.” His smile turned more genuine. “These are special circumstances after all.”

  “Correct.” The Ranger commander agreed, “I’ll assume you found something of note then? I did mention some files to you, Professor, correct?”

  Oak nodded along again, and Lance tapped his foot impatiently. “It seems we all have uncovered information on the situation at Mt. Silver. Let’s get all of it together and clear up this mystery around the Moltres and Tyranitar, then, why don’t we?”

  “I’ll begin then,” Professor Oak shifted, “Commander Minami here sent me a link to an open part of last year's ranger database.” The old Professor held up a printed chart from the file, which looked like nothing more than a smudge on white in his camera, “The information within points to a few things, Pokemon populations have generally increased since last year, as they should have, but there is an issue.”

  “What is the issue?” Lance squinted at the screen, “I cannot quite make out that chart.”

  “I sent a picture in the chat.” Commander Minami replied helpfully.

  “Ah, yes! Thank you, Commander.” Oak replied, laying down his printouts before continuing, “The data suggests that Pokemon populations rose, but not by the same amount as the previous years. This wouldn’t be an issue if there were also reports of angrier wildlife in the same regions where the population didn’t rise quite as much.”

  “This is where we come in.” Commander Minami cut in, “We did an intricate questioning of every ranger involved in the situation at Mt. Silver. You also had Bruno question that poor girl who got involved in the incident, correct?”

  “Yes, I’ve already read through it.” Lance nodded.

  “I’ve also had a chat with her,” Oak raised a hand, “She’s quite the spirited girl. Caught up in a situation with a legendary Pokemon and still just as excited about Pokemon as all the trainers running through my door! Haha!”

  “With the multiple police testimonies of her and her Pokemon, Professor Oaks’ chat with her, and Bruno's testimony, we managed to create a clear picture of the situation surrounding her and managed to identify practically every person involved in the case. From beginning to end.” Commander Minami smiled excitedly.

  “Since the two had other commitments, let me give you a complete timeline of events, if you will?” Minami smiled.

  …

  The story had taken quite a bit to get through, by the end both Professor and Champion had various looks of confusion and surprise on their face, “This…”

  “They truly decided to send a brand-new trainer with nothing but a single Pokemon into Mt. Silver, along with three rangers, who all only held a single Pokemon capable of fighting in the caves?” Oak looked gobsmacked at the implication, “Even Aces don’t walk around the mountain with less than two of their Pokemon…When she told me her situation, I’d simply assumed by her excited retelling that she was somewhat exaggerating and her Ranger simply had no reason to release their other Pokemon in front of her, but to not even have any other Pokemon on their person…Minami, I know a single Pokemon is standard for rangers in regular service, but this is far from regular service. This wasn’t just a case of incompetence, it was-”

  Commander Minami smiled back at them from his little box on their screen, interrupting Professor Oak during his question, “Correct, corruption. We’re still sorting through everything and trying to pluck out all of the bad actors.”

  “I’d advise you to look at your operations for corruption as well,” Commander Minami helpfully supplied, “We do have an idea of their goals now, though.”

  “This is quite unprecedented.” Oak mentioned with a hand on his forehead, “I can hardly imagine who or why they wanted a young girl and her rangers to pass away in the mountain.”

  “From what we can assume, they hadn’t known about the presence of Moltres until it was reported.” The Commander explained, “The situation must’ve thrown a massive wrench into their operation, they must’ve panicked, as all eyes were now on the mountain.”

  “Their operation being?” Lance had already figured out what Commander Minami was getting at, but still asked him the question anyway.

  “Pokemon poaching, most likely.” The commander spoke, his smile suddenly absent, “The population numbers were never adjusted, but the fact that various places reported less friendly Pokemon and a sudden slump in population growth, along with some internal information I’m forced to keep to myself, led me to that conclusion.”

  “Creation above…” Professor Oak cursed. Lance's face also hardened at the mention. This was going to be a mess.

  …

  “So you’ve finally decided to leave, huh?” Drew smiled back at Valerie, who anxiously looked down at him from his bedside. He laughed, “Haha! Relax, Valerie. The last time I saw you look like this was when I got home to those shattered plates when you were young, remember?”

  Valerie smiled, “Yeah, I do…and…yeah. Michelle said it's time to finally leave…” She looked like she didn’t know what to say as she looked at the tiled floor between her seat and her father's bed.

  Larry saw that Valerie still wasn’t entirely ready to leave, ‘It's a big step, I wonder how a couch potato like Valerie will fare, walking all day out in the wilderness when I’m with her on her journey?’

  “Hey,” Drew put a hand on his daughter's, “I’ll be fine, Valerie. You don’t have to worry about me, here check this out.” Drew rose from his bed, sitting up with a loud groan, much to Valeire’s shock, “See? I can already sit up again.”

  Valerie had tears in her eyes as she launched herself into a hug towards her dad, “Dad, I’ll miss you.”

  ‘She really is a daddy's girl.’ Larry thought with a smile, ‘When she’s with Michelle, she always keeps distance, but she always goes for a hug with her dad.’

  “Aww, I’ll miss having you around too, Val.” He patted her on the back as she began to hiccup with tears, “You know you won't go that far away, right? You can always just call me when you get lonely, right?”

  “I’ll do that!” She whined into his shoulder, “I’ll call you!”

  While Larry liked seeing some wholesome family time, he couldn’t keep a scowl off his face when he saw the self-satisfied smile on Drew's face at finally being relied on again. The father loved every single iota of attention his daughter gave him.

  “You got Larvitar and Natu to keep you company anyway, right?” Drew held his daughter tight.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  “Yeah,” Valerie removed herself from her father, sitting back down on her chair as she ran a hand through her hair and rubbed her sleeve over her teary eyes, “but, Dad. They’re called Larry and Sybill now.”

  …

  “Thank you very much for your services!” Valerie fell into a bow, which both Larry on the ground and Sybil on her shoulder mimicked, much to Nurse Joy's surprise, “And I’m sorry for all the trouble I caused!”

  The nurse had jumped at the sudden declaration, but she recovered quickly enough. “Miss Riston? What brought this on?”

  Larry looked over the inside of the Pokemon Center, where the reconstruction had finally started in earnest. The sound of power tools could be heard in the distance as Machop carried various materials in through the front door and up a staircase next to the reception.

  Fishing through her backpack after raising herself, Valerie pulled out a small appreciation gift, a box of chocolates with “Thank you!” printed on its top. Nurse Joy took the gift with a confused look on her face, “I am planning to leave the League Reception today, so I wanted to give you and the other officials who’ve helped me a small gift of appreciation…Also, I should say sorry again for what happened to the Center…So, Sorry!”

  Nurse Joy smiled at the girls' earnest declaration, “I see. Thank you.” She placed the present behind the counter, “I’ll be sharing this with the girls in the break room later, then.”

  “Please do.” Valerie nodded.

  “I think it should be said, but what happened in the Center isn’t your fault, you have nothing to worry about.” She giggled to herself, “By the way, since you’ve talked to the Tyranitar, she’s also been quite cooperative. If anything, we should be thanking you for making our job easier.”

  Before Valerie could rebuke her, the Nurse continued, “You probably have a busy last day, so I’ll leave you to it. Just know that my sisters in the other centers and I will be happy to be of service to you again in the future.”

  “I’ll keep it in mind! Thank you!” Valerie bowed a second time.

  …

  They continued looking around the town for other people who had helped them in their time at the reception. She managed to find Officer Jenny in the local police station, whom she also gave a package of congratulatory chocolates.

  On their way around, Larry saw the blond-haired girl and her mother shop around in the streets of the city, they were unmistakable as people's eyes seemed to simply fall on them as they walked past. Valerie clearly saw them as well, but didn’t spare them more than a cursory glance as she made her way around the small town with purpose.

  One particular group of people, Valerie just couldn’t find anywhere, though. “Hmm, do you think we could find Maxie and the other rangers somewhere around here? They’re probably still busy…”

  Larry pointed to the Center and put his hands towards his mouth in an eating motion, “Ah, the cafeteria? Nice thinking, Larry! It is around Midday, they’d probably be in there if they’re on break and in the area right now. Let's give it a try.”

  They quickly made their way over there, and to their luck, found Maxie sitting at one of the cafeteria tables, devouring one of the meals. Pumping her fist with a quiet “Yes!” Valerie made her way over to her ranger friend. When Maxie finally looked up from her meal, her face quickly morphed between various expressions. She dropped the spoon in her hands in surprise as she opened her arms with a smile, “Val! Oh my goodness!”

  “Maxie!” Valerie launched herself into the second hug of the day and extracted herself just as quickly, “It's so great to see you again. How are you doing?”

  Balancing her head from left to right, she hemmed and hawed at the question, “Well, you know. It’s a living. Work has been slowing down as the situation around Mt. Silver has cooled down, so I’m happy about that. They’ve still got me running errands, though.” Turning back to her, Maxie asked the same, “What about you?”

  “I’ll be leaving for Virdian City with my mom today. I have to prepare for my journey.” She picked another box of chocolates out of her backpack and held it out for Maxie to take.

  “I’ve been running around all day, giving my thanks to the people who helped me out, it's why I’ve been looking for you, too.” Bowing her head, which Larry and Sybil quickly mimicked, Valerie continued, “Thank you, Nicholas, Arin, and all the other rangers for all the help you’ve given me. From the ‘Bring-Your-Kid-To-Work’ Day, then Henry's help at Mt. Silver, and your threes help when we went into Mt. Silver, I couldn’t thank you enough!”

  If Larry hadn’t seen it, then he would’ve thought Valerie was holding a knife out to Maxie by the way she jumped at the box of chocolates. Her expression looked shocked at the utterly earnest thankfulness the girl had just shown her, but she received the box with a tentatively curious eye.

  “Wow…Uh…I-Uh, I don’t really know what to say to that.” Scratching the back of her head, she looked at the box of chocolates with a weird expression. “Thank you, Val. I'll-Uh, I’ll make sure the message gets to the others…”

  “Please do!” If Valerie had noticed the awkward atmosphere, she didn’t let it show, instead, she reached into her backpack once more, “Actually, here!” She piled three more boxes of chocolates into Maxie's arms, “Make sure these get to the others, one for each of them. As a thank you!”

  …

  “Haa…I’m so glad I got to thank everyone somehow.” Valerie spoke to a nod from Larry next to her as they walked to the small station for flying types on the edges of the town, “Now I feel like I can leave without any regrets.”

  “You didn’t stir up any trouble again?” Michelle joked, walking right next to her.

  “No, I did not, Michelle.” Valerie joked right back.

  Larry hadn’t seen the landing station before, from its looks, it reminded him of a small airport, with both vertical landing spots and a runway for Pokemon to take off and land on. There was a house nearby, which probably acted as some sort of ATC station. The area was otherwise largely barren, probably to dissuade accidents and make for easier landings for Pokemon.

  One thing was for sure, this wasn’t an airport for planes or helicopters. After a formal handshake, they were picked up by a pilot at the entrance and, with hurried steps, guided through the place. Pidgeot, Fearow, a Golbat, and even a Dodrio could be spotted in various spots around the place, wearing harnesses and other types of things, ‘Wait, Dodrio can’t even fly, can they?’

  Their pilot led them over to the Fearow, sitting on top of a large carriage, which was held firmly in its talons. The bird was wearing a specialized harness, which tied it to the carriage, probably to ensure it couldn’t drop it by accident.

  The carriage reminded Larry of the ones he’d seen in the Sword and Shield games, which were carried by Corviknight in a Taxi Service for the region. The pilot guided them and opened the door to his carriage for them, “I’m sorry, but your Pokemon should be in their Pokeballs while in the carriage. While Bertha up there is pretty strong, we’d like to reduce the weight on the carriage as much as possible to reduce the strain on her. We’re on a tight schedule today, so I’d like it if we could get back to Viridian quickly.”

  “Of course.” Valerie nodded, turning to Larry, “Sorry, but you heard the man. I’ll let you out once we’re in Viridian City, ok?” With a nod and flash of red, Larry was in his Pokeball, looking over the outside from the miniaturized view from his trainer's belt. Unlike him, Sybil had gone in her own Pokeball earlier.

  They’d been lucky to travel light, with Valerie's only luggage being her trainer backpack and Michelle only having a single regular backpack full of clothing and other important items. Seating themselves in the carriage, their pilot was just about to close the door of their carriage, when a person ran through the airport, right for their landing pad, “VALERIE!”

  Still in that white hoodie and a Patrat on his shoulder, Matthias stopped just short of the landing pad with his hands on his knees, heaving in gulps of air heavily, “Huff…Huff...Y-You’re leaving?!”

  “Uhh…” Valerie didn’t even know what to say, but before she could properly form a sentence, “Um…”

  “Lover’s quarrel?” The pilot asked, playing around with harnesses at the foot of their carriages.

  Next to her, Michelle almost did a spit-take, cutting it short with an audible Snort and a giggle.

  Valerie flushed at the insinuation, throwing her arms around wildly, “N-No! He wanted an interview with me! I completely forgot!” Turning to Matthias, she bowed, “I’m sorry, Matthew!”

  “It's still Matthias!” Matt quickly corrected her, “Where are you going?”

  “Viridian City.” Valerie revealed, “I’m sorry I couldn’t give you that interview, it feels like something always came between us.”

  “We’re cleared for takeoff,” The pilot mentioned with a sigh. “How long is this going to take? We are on a tight schedule.”

  Matthias was already tapping away on his phone. “Uh-Uhm…Alright, write me on social media, maybe we can hold that interview over a video call?”

  “Sure, sure!” Valerie nodded rapidly as the pilot closed their carriage door.

  Their pilot heaved himself up onto the Fearow, tapped it twice, and the bird began to beat its large wings until the carriage lifted itself up and off the ground. On the ground outside of her window, Valerie saw Matthias shield his face from the harsh winds the bird was creating as he waved at her. He yelled something, but it was drowned out by the noises of takeoff. The Fearow had already carried them up far enough that she couldn’t hear him through the windows of the carriage.

  Elbowing her in the side, Michelle grinned at her, “So? You had the boys' contact information?”

  “I…” Valerie wanted to give a clear retort, but her arms fell to her side in realization, “I don’t.”

  “He’s never getting that interview, is he?” Michelle guessed.

  “No, he probably isn’t.” Valerie shook her head emphatically.

  Also, I finally finished that Artwork I've been working on! So here it is!

  link to the full picture!

  The artwork shows Valerie and Larry standing in the middle of the square of the League Reception Town, with the entrance to Victory Road and Mt. Silver both standing behind them.

  Personally, I think this came out pretty well for my first try at making my own art, even if shading and coloring are annoying as all hell and came out slightly wacky. I do still have a long way to go, that is for sure. But that just means the next one is going to look better, right?

  I'll cut it and add a nice title to it, and then it'll be used as the cover art from now on. Goodbye, Mister/Misses Scam Artist!

  And again, thank you very much for reading, and I hope you're having a wonderful day or night!