Clean up was a chore as always.

  After Ariana escaped with her goons, Nina and the Ace Trainers who stayed behind rushed over to the Radio Tower to smoke out any remnants of Team Rocket they could find.

  But aside from the ones crippled by Espy earlier, the tower had mostly been vacated, except for the Voltorbs hidden near some of the more fragile machinery. Likely a self-destructive measure in the event that Team Rocket’s plans went awry.

  The interrogation from the Jennies were a lot more succinct as well now that Nina had developed a bit of a reputation for herself.

  The members of the media, though, were ravenous and the Poke-Idol Rocket Hunter was simply too tired by that point to care. Credits to Mizuho, the talent manager went straight back to work after the traumatic ordeal and fended off the Mandibuzzes splendidly. Ironically, a good portion of the paparazzis were also hostages they freed who bounced right back to work immediately after. “I guess tenacity is a prerequisite for the job.”

  “We should totes form a proper girl group!”

  Nina groaned at the suggestion. One would think that being stuck to a hospital bed would temper Whitney’s disposition somewhat.

  The basement ended up being a trap, resulting in the Gym Leader needing to fight tooth and nail for survival. Even Morty and his entourage were delayed in the booby-trapped tunnels. Though their expertise in prior operations meant that they were relatively unscathed and managed to arrive just in time for the rescue.

  “Not happening, Whitney. All three of us have our own obligations to attend to. Any collab we try to do will just be met with endless setbacks and scheduling conflicts.” Nina sighed. “But I’m glad to see that you’re still kicking. Kerry was worried sick about you.”

  “Oh pooey! Don’t be such a prude, Aquarium Girl! The people are demanding it. We’ll be rolling around in a Gimmighoul hoard in no time!”

  Again, Nina deflected with a canned response and humoured the cowgirl with a series of selfies before excusing herself to go check on Kerry. Her friend had taken it upon herself to assist her cousins with resettling the stolen Pokemon they recovered.

  ***

  “Lily? What are you doing here?”

  “That your new Ride?”

  Nina nodded incredulously as the haggard looking Cerulean Sister climbed up onto Ricey’s sick bed and smothered her face against the Rapidash’s embers. The whole thing happened so abruptly that the usually reserved Rice Shower couldn’t even react in time.

  “DaAaAash…” She whimpered, eliciting a giggle from Nina.

  “It’s okay, Ricey. This is Lily, she’s one of my bosses in the Cerulean Gym. Don’t worry, she won’t hurt you. Lily’s one of the most Pokemon loving people I know.”

  Indeed, Nina did not get to interact with Lily much most days but she was definitely her favorite among Misty’s sisters. The woman was mostly in charge of Pokemon training and care back in the Gym, and absolutely abhorred getting involved in messy human affairs, leaving it all up to her sisters. In that sense, she and Nina were kindred spirits.

  Her only vice was how lazy she was. Lily once proudly proclaimed to Nina that she was a woman who absolutely refused to function without at least ten hours of sleep in her system. A fact that caused a great deal of inconvenience on the days that she decided not to show up for work.

  “I’m technically one of your aunts now too…” The woman murmured. Lily was now fully splayed atop her niece’s Rapidash, fully immersed in the undulating pulse of Ricey’s breathing.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  “Ahh… this is the life. If only I had a popsicle with me right now.” She peeked out with one of her eyes and gave Nina a suggestive look.

  The girl chuckled. “Yeah, ain’t no way am I acting as your gopher.” Instead, Nina tossed out one of her Pokeballs to release her Brionne.

  “Brinny, mind making a little popsicle for Lily to suck on?”

  “Briii? Bri-bri, Brionne!” The juvenile seal Pokemon seemed a little confused at first, but ultimately barked in affirmation and did as he was told.

  “Your naming sense sucks as usual but thanks, Brinny.” Lily grabbed hold of the proffered icicle with her bare hand while sweeping Brinny into her smothering embrace in one fell swoop. Then, like a child with her favorite plushie, Lily suckled at the piece of ice while cuddling with Nina’s struggling Pokemon, eliciting a helpless sigh from the girl.

  “Were you the one they sent out to defend Lugia?” Nina knew enough about the situation to form an educated guess.

  “Mmhmm… Misty couldn’t go ‘cause she’s super preggers and I lost the stupid draw.”

  Nina laughed. Of course, what else could she expect from that hopeless bunch.

  “Doubt they sent you into battle alone. Where’s the rest?”

  “Those bitches are messing around in the city — said they wanted to treat themselves and all that. Probs partying in a club somewhere — not my scene.”

  The girl nodded and the pair of humans fell into a comfortable silence. Nina was worried that Lily might fall asleep, but it seemed that the older woman had more self-control than she gave her credit for. Although, she did begin to snore before jolting back awake a few times.

  “Urgh. This is killer on my neck…”

  “Pfft… Go back to your hotel and sleep, Lily. I appreciate you coming by to check on me, but you’re obviously exhausted. Go on now, shoo. Just shoot me a text when you’re awake and I’ll come find you.”

  “No can do. Gotta drag my ass over to Mahogany after this and deal with the Gyarados.”

  Nina frowned. “I thought Lady Clair and the Blackthorns had that handled?”

  “Bleh. They killed the master of the lake, but they had to rush over to Indigo Village right after to save Sabrina’s fat ass. There’s still tons of the bastards swimming around and they're worried that they might act up after the red one whipped them into a frenzy.”

  “Sounds like a pain… How can such a small lake sustain such a large population of Gyarados anyway? Must be cramped in there. And what about food?”

  Lily scoffed. “Don’t even get me started. Clair and her lot feed them like Goldeens in a pond, laced the feed with sedatives. We kept telling ‘em it’s a bad idea and lookie how things turned out! Urgh… And now we gotta go in and clean up their mess.”

  “And Giovanni…?” Nina was almost hesitant to ask.

  “Slipped away like a fucking Ekans. Took out a couple of Aces on the way out — snapped their necks like a twig.” Lily sneered and the two fell into a depressing silence until Nina decided to divert the conversation to distract her wayward thoughts.

  “W-What about the Mahogany Gym?”

  “They’re busy dealing with the refugees. And ‘sides, ain’t no one better than us when it comes to wrangling wild Gyarados. Or at least, that’s what those pricks at the League are saying.”

  “Can I come with?” Nina asked, eliciting an intense stare from Lily.

  “Haven’t you gotten into enough trouble already?”

  Nina squirmed. “I know but I just feel bad, you know? Can’t help but feel responsible somehow…If only I had left Giovanni in that time loop…” She had no idea how that would work, but surely she could have done something with Celebi’s help— “Ouch! What was that for?!” The girl exclaimed as she rubbed at her aching forehead.

  “That’s… For being a dumbass. Ain’t nothing you can do, so stop brooding about it. You did what was right at the time. Most people would’ve done the same. Heck, most people wouldn’t even have the chops to do what you did. So stop being such a Nancy about it. Oh, and before I forget, here.”

  Lily dug into her jean pocket and dug out a prismatic jewel which she tossed over to Nina who fumbled to catch it.

  “This… a Key Stone!”

  “Heh. That’s what you asked for, right? Supposed to give it to you with bubblies and confetti and all that but I can’t be bothered. Doubt you’re in the mood right now anyway.” Lily chuckled in amusement. “Bev’s gonna be pissed when she finds out you Spoink’d over her. Do me a favor and really rub it in, will ya?”

  Nina stared speechless, entranced by the infinitely looping helix within the jewel’s iridescent glow.

  At the sight of the idiot in front of her, mouth agape in wonder, Lily dug into her crop top to produce her own Key Stone — one tethered to a necklace. “Welcome to the family, Nins. You’re in the big leagues now…”

  ***

  “I wanna come too!” Justin begged, because of course he did. If Nina was opposed to the boy tagging along then she wouldn’t have shared her plans to begin with.

  That said, she still looked towards Lily for approval, who just shrugged in indifference. Child safety when faced with a horde of angry sea serpents was never exactly in the Cerulean Gym’s repertoire.

  “What about you, Kerry? Do you want to come with us too?”

  The nurse girl shuffled her feet in uncertainty. “There’re lots of people and Pokemon who got hurt because of Team Rocket right?”

  Nina frowned. “Yeah… Mahogany Town’s a real mess right now.”

  “Then I’m going too! The local nurses are going to need all the help they can get.” Kerry responded with a resolute gaze, eliciting a swoon from Nina as she pulled the saintly girl into a tight hug.

  “Welp, that’s that then.” Lily declared as she gestured for everyone to move out. “Try to keep up alright? No stopping for potty breaks. I wanna get this over with and go back home as soon as possible.”

  And so, Nina, her friends, a groggy Lily and some very hungover mermaids set off towards Mahogany Town to subdue the local Gyarados population.