While on their way to Hearthome City and Ash's fifth Sinnoh Region Badge, our heroes rushed off after hearing shouting in the forest, only to run into their old friend, Top Ranger Kellyn.
"Sorry, Ash. I thought you were a Pokémon." Kellyn returned to Ash and his friends after soaking a cloth in a nearby stream and handed it to him. He adjusted his Ranger vest and glanced at Heracross and Burmy behind him.
Ash placed the cloth on the Capture Disc indent on his nose and grumbled, "Aw, it's okay. It's great to see you again, Kellyn."
"Pika! Pika!" Pikachu agreed, leaping onto Kellyn's shoulder.
"Oh?" he asked, but then he scratched the Pokémon under his chin, and Pikachu smiled, lowering his ears.
"We were having lunch in the forest when we heard you," Brock explained, examining the forest. Unless it was a girl, he was usually calm, but even his knees shook at seeing Kellyn again.
Dawn rushed to Kellyn and put her hands together, leaning close to him. "What are you doing here? Are you on a mission? Please say you're on a mission!"
Her penguin-like Pokémon, Piplup, emerged from behind her boot and flapped its little wings, saying, "Piplup! Piplup!"
"I'm actually on my way to the Almia Region," Kellyn explained, facing Heracross and Burmy. He pressed the Union button on his gauntlet, and the two Pokémon scurried away, now released. "My ferry leaves at sunset."
"Almia?" Ash said, standing.
"Oh!" When did Brock grow excited? He reached into his knapsack and pulled out a small book. Brock flipped through it and said, "The Almia Region, home of the famous Top Flying Ranger, Wendy!" He stopped on a page and showed it to the others. "Right, Kellyn?"
"Um… right," Kellyn stuttered, studying the picture of the young, green-haired Top Ranger in the book. He wondered how Sven and Wendy were doing. He hadn't seen them since the Shadow Crystal Incident.
"Oh!" Brock's voice cracked. "Your face tells me you know Wendy, Kellyn!"
Kellyn tittered and backed away from him. "I do, Brock. She's known as the Flying Ranger for a reason."
"Then there's only one thing to do!" Brock argued, lowering his book. "Take me to Almia so I can meet her!"
Before Kellyn asked, a flash of light came from Brock's belt, and his Croagunk appeared before him. Its hand glowed purple, and it jabbed Brock in the belly. The Toxic Mouth Pokémon stood tall and chuckled, "Cro, Cro, Cro," as Brock sank to the ground onto his belly.
Kellyn, Dawn, and Ash giggled, but then Kellyn's mind returned to his mission and Brock's request to meet Wendy. Pokémon Trainers didn't travel to Almia often, so he already had his answer if Brock asked again. However, it was nice to see him, Ash, Dawn, and Pikachu again.
A crashing sound soon came from the forest, and the friends asked, "Hm?" simultaneously.
"Quick, hide!" Kellyn ordered, looking at Ash, Dawn, and Brock. He took Pikachu off his shoulder and handed him to Ash before leading the way to a bush behind the trail. They hid in it, and Kellyn pulled out an olive green cloak from under it. He had to blend in, so he put the cloak on and narrowed his eyes.
Two covered jeeps with spaceship-like roofs pulled into the area where Kellyn had been practicing and stopped.
The doors opened, and out stepped a group of men wearing Pokémon Hunter uniforms, but not just any Pokémon Hunter uniforms.
"That's Pokémon Hunter J's goons," Dawn explained, holding Piplup close.
"What are they doing here?" Ash wondered.
"Whatever it is, it can't be good," Brock guessed. He had changed from swooning over Wendy to being serious in a matter of minutes.
One of the henchmen lifted his hand and ordered the others, "Spread out and search the area. Blue-Bird was last seen here."
Ash, Brock, and Dawn turned on bewildered faces, but Kellyn kept his eyes narrowed and nudged them. He wanted to complete his mission himself, but he didn't want to put Ash, his friends, and Blue-Bird in danger by confronting Hunter J head-on. The longer they stayed hidden, the better it was for it, Parity, and Almia.
"Follow me, but stay down," Kellyn whispered.
"Are you kidding?" Ash clenched his fist. "I want to see what those no-good Pokémon Hunters are up to!" It seemed he was still a bit reckless.
"It's safer if we stay low," Kellyn explained.
"He has a point, Ash," Brock elucidated. "We shouldn't confront them unless we know what they're after and have a plan."
"But—!" Ash groaned—it looked like he wanted another adventure—but soon sighed and nodded.
Kellyn took the lead, and the group tiptoed through the forest, heads lowered. "The port town where the ferry leaves for Almia isn't far from here," Kellyn explained. "We can take refuge there."
Once the group was far enough from the Pokémon Hunters, they straightened themselves and jogged toward a hill.
Ash, still wanting to poke his nose in Kellyn's business, said, "Kellyn, those Hunters mentioned something called a Blue-Bird?"
Kellyn temporarily peered over his shoulder and said, "Sorry, Ash, but that's classified information." The Union gave him the super-secret mission, so he needed it to stay classified. It was a job only meant for a Rank 10 Top Pokémon Ranger… unless the little booger caused mischief again.
Behind, but hot on the group's tail, Team Rocket eavesdropped from a tree with binoculars.
Jessie and James, both wearing white uniforms with an R on their shirts, looked at each other.
James, a young man with purple hair, asked, "Did you hear that, Jessie? Those Hunters mentioned something called a Blue-Bird, and that Ranger said it's classified."
"Ho, ho, ho!" Jessie brought her gloved fingers to her mouth, but soon lowered them. "Then you know what this means, James."
Their Partner Pokémon, a talking Meowth, lifted his paws and reached for his cheeks. "A super rare Pokémon is just around the corner!"
Jessie clenched her fist. "And where the twerps go, we follow!"
Like Brock earlier, a pokéball flashed open from Jessie's belt.
"Wobbu-Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet's tall, cyan body shimmered under the rays of the sun, but its weight caused the branch to bend.
Team Rocket gasped and hugged each other. The branch snapped, and they toppled onto the forest floor, landing on top of one another.
Jessie, James, and Meowth groaned, while Wobbuffet again said, "Wobbu-Wobbuffet!"—but then Jessie shot up when a lightbulb clicked above her head of magenta hair.
She sat on James's back and snapped her fingers. "Ah ha! I have it! It will be us! It will be us!" She slid off James and grabbed his head, squeezing his cheeks. "This is the best idea I've come up with in a while!"
Meowth and James gulped, and Meowth clutched James's arm. "Like, should we be worried?"
"I don't want to worry!" James complained under Jessie's grip. Jessie freed him, and he yelped, embracing Meowth.
Jessie stood and paced for a second, but then she faced the others and turned on a wicked smile. "Imagine this: we, the notorious Team Rocket, tell Hunter J about the twerps and the Ranger."
James and Meowth fell silent for a few minutes while they let Jessie's plan sink in, and then James admitted, "Bold, Jess, but I think that would end very badly."
Within seconds, Jessie glared and swatted the back of his head.
"Ow!" James groaned, rubbing it.
Jessie smacked her gloves together and said, "Well, as I always say, as the famous Jessilina, there's only one way to find out."