It took around 30 minutes for all the Pokemon Center staff and Nurse Joy herself, who is actually a doctor, to arrive at the scene alongside the fire department of the Pewter City that used big vacuums that spray water inside of its container to the spores so they wouldn't be floating anymore. At this time, Roserade had already ended its own 'dance concert' following a command and summons from its master, and another 30 minutes, then all Pokemons that're paralyzed alongside Garchomp, Tyranitar, and Riolu had been accounted for.
Garchomp and Riolu were given back to Cynthia, who was the cause of all this commotion that caused some public unrest, while all Pokemons in the person of Vincent and Hana Hardy, which includes Tyranitar, are in the custody of Interpol. In the last 30 minutes, Hana and Vincent were officially captured, while their daughter is primarily given to a care center for orphaned kids with convicted parents, marking the end of Team Rocket's presence in Pewter, or at least, that's what the public knows and hopes.
Now that everything is all accounted for, the headquarters director of the Interpol Pewter City headquarters is in a private meeting with Cynthia Celestica, while the agent that's in charge of giving her her roles in missions, as well as her newest friend besides Anthony Dover, Alexandra Jenny, is also present. Obviously, they will be talking about the mass paralysis stunt of Cynthia that caused a fourth of the sewer system to be filled with paralyzing spores, something very excessive even if her Pokemon was kidnapped.
It was a good thing that Cynthia has very good control and grasp of how to command her Pokemons and managed to make Roserade produce spores that can paralyze Pokemons and humans alike without making the paralysis that deep. After all, normally, paralysis of the level that's used in battles can only be withstood by Pokemons, and ordinary people that has mild active to sedentary lives will not be able to move even their lungs if they sniff some of it, and soon even their heart will be paralyzed, possibly becoming lethal.
The Roserade line was never predated by humans, after all, so their spores are hardwired to incapacitate other Pokemons, which are obviously of higher physical quality than humans.
"You can start explaining now."
The director said, making her voice reverberate into the room, making Riolu, who was kneeling in a corner facing the wall and pressing its forehead as punishment, look over for a moment. However, it immediately continued serving its punishment the moment Cynthia craned her neck towards it before going back to their original position.
"It's nothing really that complicated, my missions has a condition that would let me break my status as a buffer and a 'scare factor' for Team Rocket if it so happens that one of my Pokemons get implicated and is in immenent or possible danger and that time, Riolu blocked a taser shot for me and got kidnapped, so I immediately decided to save it by first making a match up between Tyranitar and Garchomp and using Roserade to make sure that my target never gets away with my Pokemon."
At this moment, both the Jennies in front of Cynthia shook their head.
"I'm sure your Milotic has been trained in dirty waters before, right? It's faster than Vincent Hardy when in the waters, regardless of depth and cleanliness."
Cynthia smiled at this, frowning a little before shaking her head.
"I was angry, Mrs. Jenny; I would've done worse if we weren't under a city at that time."
Cynthia shrugged, smiling, making the two Jennies present realize that while Cynthia has very little pride about her being a projected champion, she still knew what she was capable of and what she could really do if she wasn't raised to be a humble and gentle little girl. But again, a prodigy known for controlling a very strong Pokemon in the name of Garchomp can and will become uncontrollable if push comes to shove.
The director sighed again.
"I... understand where you're coming from, but you should also understand that your Pokemons are not the only living beings in that place. We... no, you trainers should know that you are holding cute biological weapons that were once used and abused in numerous wars when we humans didn't know better, and even when we did, we are not able to get this war away from their genetics... we need to protect all Pokemons and not only the Pokemons inside our Pokeballs."
Riolu released a whimpering sound, as if guilty that it's the reason that its trainer is being scolded. Cynthia also solemnly nodded.
"Yes, I'm sorry... I will not promise anything about not doing it again, but I will definitely control myself better."
Officer Jenny then sighed before continuing, now holding a piece of paper with the silhouette of the ink used, similar to that of a letter format. It's in fact a letter that came from the headquarters of Interpol, which is just near Viridian City, a city just directly south of Pewter. Seeing this, Cynthia understood immediately that her sanctions were rushed and were immediately given to the director so that Interpol would not be labelled as playing favorites.
This letter was folded by Director Jenny thrice before giving it to Cynthia.
"This will be your punishment. You can read it and enact it immediately; failure to meet the demand of the punishment will bring heavier sanctions, and... because you're quite the strong trainer, you are at risk of being hunted down if you don't do as you were told."
Hearing this, Cynthia nodded and grabbed the letter. The content is quite short and is not really that heavy a punishment.
_Hm, the last time the league put on heavy punishment on a champion calibre person, they lost the services of that person entirely and received public backlash so heavy that they have to use free viewings of the Pokemon League challenge to revitalize their profits the next 4 seasons..._
Cynthia silently nodded as she read the letter, which goes like this:
"Upon the recommendation of relevant authorities, Cynthia Celestica is hereby confirmed to have not abided by the law against the use of potentially lethal force of Pokemon powers. In this regard, Cynthia Celestica is banned for the entirety of the Pokemon league season from accepting any mission from any authorities of the league, be it academia or militant-related; she is also banned for the test of the season on travelling in the whole sovereign territory of the Indigo Plateau. This punishment shall be served immediately upon the acquirement of the director directly responsible in the current location of the recipient."
Cynthia sighed, putting the letter in the underpocket of her dress before digging deeper.
"Right... I will adhere to this immediately."
After saying that, Cynthia pulled out a badge and put it on the director's table. It was the badge that let her legally stay and be funded by Interpol, as well as get their protection during the duration of the mission. After the director grabbed the badge, she stood up and shook the hand of Cynthia.
"I thank you for your services; we hope to work with you again, and at that time, I hope that it won't end on quite a sour note."
Cynthia smiled and nodded before saying, "Likewise.". She then went and said her farewell and came to the corner of Riolu before grabbing it by the skull and lifting it upwards and finally walking out of the office.
"We will talk before getting out of Kanto."
And that's how Cynthia's last week in the Kanto region ended.
_______________
_Holy shit, Riolu got grabbed in the noggin._
The two Jennies, Alexandra, the younger Jenny, friend of Cynthia, and the older Tony, director of the Pewter Headquarters, silently looked at Cynthia grabbing Riolu by the head with one hand before going out the door. To forget the scene, Alexandra Jenny coughed an obviously fake one before looking at her distant relative.
"That's a very light punishment if you even considered it one. It's just basically making her have a break in her duties as an independent agent, though her being a face of the current generation of Pokemon trainers is a given; I feel like endangering lots of lives should have more severe punishment. Maybe a 1-year Pokemon League challenge ban would be good."
The director, Tony Jenny, shook her head before smirking.
_Last time they did that, their main livelihood almost got dissolved._
Tony Jenny remembered the times when she was a child, a time of lull for the Pokemon League profession due to the fact that Hana Dover is said to be banned from challenging a champion. Of course, they already recovered because of people like Ben Dover, the elite 4s, and became better because of Red and Blue of Indigo, Steven and Wallace in Hoenn, and Cynthia in Sinnoh, among the other champions in the vast regions of the Pokemon world.
But that time is indeed crazy to think about.
"Well, the Pokemon League is entertainment. While the league go say things about valuing Pokemons and such, the League is, in the end, a form of entertainment, and entertainment needs a face, like Cynthia, and if that face was stopped from entertaining people, the entertainment would not be entertaining anymore."
Alexandra Jenny sighed before shaking her head. Though as a friend of Cynthia, she's quite glad her punishment is not that severe.
_I wish her well... ah._
Alexandra smacked herself in the forehead.
"I didn't get her to sign my brother's toy...!"
________________
The early morning sun, teetering between ruby red and golden yellow colors, pierced through Route 21's waters, causing the different water Pokemons to surface for a moment as they swam comfortably under the gentle grace of the rising sun. In these waters separating Pallet Town and Cinnabar Island are two Pokemons, seemingly having a full and heated race.
One is a blue-colored Pokemon with a hard shell, carrying a boy with some luggage on his person. The Pokemon looks quite huge to be racing against someone, yet due to it being on its home ground: a body of water, it was able to go head-to-head against the second Pokemon, which is a blue-colored bat without an eye. The bat also has a disadvantage, which is that it has to dodge air resistance and go with the flow to increase its speed; it doesn't help that its rival is on its home ground.
Lapras, the original one ridden by Anthony, and Zubat raced through the start of the voyage of the duo Mary and Anthony going back to Pallet until the moment they disembarked on Pallet beach. This time, Anthony let Zubat have the race; this is because it was trained to move under heavy water pressure all these months, so it would definitely be fine.
As expected, Zubat is now able to punch through the whole length of Route 21 with only getting tired and not even needing to rest in between due to the underwater training it has done alongside Miltank (though one drawback is that Miltank is very hard to tire out now and has to run more kilometers to do so).
"Ah... It's good to be back."
Mary jumped out of the Lapras, followed by Anthony as well as their Pokemons. It's been 9 months since the jam-packed schedule of Mary and Anthony's data collection activities; as expected, they were asked to go back on November 1st to personally pass the IMRAD's physical copy as well as the proof that they have submitted the paper to a journal.
The two aren't worried about the submission at all since, according to the insider information from their advisor, Prof. Josie, they should expect a positive response within the week. Of course, this is according to some friends, as she can't become the reviewer of a paper she advised to create.
"Well, I am kind of a very good researcher, so it's expected, but the reviewers want to congratulate you; also, the policy brief will be sent by the center to the government, that's rare for interns."
Anthony and Mary feel quite flattered even now, though they know they have to get out of that spunk, so Anthony nodded as he watched other Laprases dock and other interns disembark. Zubat, Miltank, Pikachu, and Skitty immediately ran towards their friends Butterfrees and Bulbasaur.
"Bruuutrrrfree~!"
"Zuu! Zuu!"
These and other such noises were heard, and while so, their close friend Andrew went towards Anthony and Mary.
"Hey, data collection is fun, huh?"
Anthony and Mary looked at Andrew without speaking.
_Is this guy messing with us?_