As she withdrew her last teammate, Melony’s face bloomed into a wide smile and she applauded her opponent. “Sweeping my entire team with one pokemon? Now that’s well-done!”

Her adversary, a pokemon ranger, smirked in response, and his pokemon—a massive, fiery monkey called “Infernape”—preened itself.

“Until my son took over,” Melony continued, “I was a Gym Leader, you know. So I’m not exactly an easy win.”

The ranger nodded in recognition. “You certainly fight like one. If I didn’t have a pokemon perfectly suited to your type, I would have been in trouble.”

“Fighting and fire, eh?” Melony murred, eying the Infernape. He was lean and handsome, his fur an array of colors. His long tail thrashed pleasantly, and warm fire blazed atop his crown. “I’ve heard of these pokemon, but never seen them.”

“Not surprised,” the ranger said. “The Sinnoh League keeps a tight lid on them. They’re our starters, and highly sought-after in the competitive circuit. Extremely rare outside this region, and they want to keep it that way.”

“That so?” Melony said, her voice low. “What a shame.” She continued studying the powerful pokemon before her: he was tall, strong, confident. Anthropomorphic enough to be familiar, but wild enough to be exotic.

She met his eyes, blue like a sapphire sea, and he returned her gaze, smoldering.

Oh, he was interesting.

“Young man,” Melony said, alighting on an idea even as she spoke, “such a good pokemon deserves a… reward, wouldn’t you say?”

The ranger, to his credit, knew exactly what she was driving at. “He’s popular,” he said. “Some might judge, but rangers, we know how it is between people and pokemon.” The Infernape turned to meet his eyes, and he laughed. “All right, buddy.” He turned and pointed. “There’s a clearing in there for privacy. I’ll give you two a bit of time.”

“Appreciated,” Melony purred.