Bad to the Bone

(A.N. I was out of town for the last week without Internet, but I'm back now.)

"Haha!" Officer Jenny shouted as she pumped the air excitedly. "Did you see that Growlithe?! I actually caught a real bad guy!"

"..." The officer's partner however didn't share her enthusiasm. As instead it merely let out a small whine while covering its eyes and ears with its paws in shame.

"What's that look for Growlithe? We're going to be the heroes of the precinct when everyone hears we caught an actual member of Team Rocket!"

"..."

"Fine then! I won't share any of the credit or awards with you!"

Officer Jenny then proceeded to ignore her partner's continued misgivings as she pictured what was going to happen when everyone heard she caught a member of Team Rocket.

In her head the Captain, also her aunt, was shaking her hand while presenting her with an award and congratulating her about a job well done. Meanwhile all her cousins were in the crowd, begging her forgiveness for all the rude remarks they'd made about her ever since she joined the precinct, and declaring her the better officer.

But also amongst the crowd was the Ranger who had actually stopped the attack, who slowly approached her while pulling off his mask and goggles to reveal an incredibly handsome face underneath.

He then approached her and took her hands in his own despite everyone around them, looking into her eyes as he said,

"You're amazing Jenny. I love you, and I'll never cheat on you like your ex did!"

He then pulled her up into his Alpha Pidgeot, which readily took off as they soared into the sunset together romantically.

...

"EARTH TO JENNY!!!" A voice screamed in Officer Jenny's ear, startling her out of her lewd daydream to see the Captain and the rest of the officers of the precinct gathered there.

"Captain!" Jenny cried as she stood too attention with a red face, making her cousins snicker at her expense as she did so.

"Tell me officer, why weren't you at the fossil sanctuary to help clean up he mess made by Team Rocket!" The Captain demanded irritably, while her majestic and beautiful Arcanine appeared beside her.

"C-Captain! I had captured one of the fiends responsible for the damage at the sanctuary, and left to bring him back here before remaining to guard him in case his accomplices come back for him!"

Rather than taking her declaration seriously like she thought, all of her cousins snickered before one asked,

"Is he as 'dangerous' as the little old lady you arrested for shoplifting? When in actuality she dementia and had simply forgotten to pay for her groceries."

"No no, he's like the little girl she arrested for assault because her ball bumped someone's foot while she was playing!" Another remarked, before all of them began to laugh hysterically at her expense.

Jenny stamped her foot on the floor irritably as she stated,

"NO! He's the same criminal that ran away when I tried to arrest him yesterday! And today I caught him trying to steal a Cranidos after his cohorts were defeated, PROVING I was right about him!"

All her cousins did was roll their eyes at her declaration, not believing her one bit just like last night, when the Captain shot her down for trying to put out an actual warrant about the man who 'fled' arrest. The general theory they all shared had been that she simply harassed him until he got fed up with her bullshit and left.

By this point it was no secret that the ONLY reason she was even still on the force was that she'd definitely cause more trouble if they fired her.

The Captain just sighed though as she looked to her troublesome niece, and said, "Very well. Let me see him, but make it quick. A couple of the Rangers are going to arrive soon to discuss the attack."

When she heard that Officer Jenny's eyes lit up as she eagerly asked, "is the Ranger who drove Team Rocket off coming here?!"

She then resumed her earlier daydream of him swooping her off her feet to live happily ever after, even as they did lewd stuff like holding hands and kissing.

"No. He's not." The Captain stated plainly, popping her bubble without a single shred of mercy. She then continued,

"Apparently he's a unique Ranger who operates independently from the rest of the organization for the most part. And yet, despite his short time as a Ranger, this is already his second time driving off a Team Rocket attack, AND he's the one who was injured while reporting the aggressive Beedrill in Viridian Forest."

"He sounds like quite the man." One of the Officers Jenny said promiscuously, even as she imagined the rugged and presumably handsome Ranger.

Rolling her eyes at the gossiping of her officers, Captain Jenny pointed out two of them and stated, "You two come with us. The rest of you wait up here and let me know when the Rangers arrive."

She then followed her niece's lead with the other two officers behind her as they all made their way to the holding cells downstairs. As soon as they opened the thick metal security door though, a voice drifted overt to them accompanied by a harmonica.

"On the day I was born

The nurses all gathered 'round

And they gazed in wide wonder

At the joy they had found

The head nurse spoke up

Said "leave this one alone"

She could tell right away

I was bad to the bone!

Bad to the bone!

Bad to the bone!

B-B-B-B-BAD!

B-B-B-B-BAD!

B-B-B-B-BAD!

Bad to the bone!"

And as the singer finished the chorus they began to shred the harmonica in a way that genuinely amazed the Captain and her officers, before they rounded the corner to find the singer in the cell.

He was shirtless as he reclined back against the stone wall, so they had a clear view of his well sculpted body even as he continued playing the harmonica, though their eyes were quickly drawn the numerous scars that decorated his sides, as well as the big ugly X on his chest that appeared red and enflamed.

By this point the man stopped playing as he directed his attention to the group of officers with their captain, standing and approaching them as he asked urgently, "How is Cranidos?!"

Confused, Captain Jenny told him, "there was a stunned Cranidos at the scene, but the caretakers at the sanctuary were treating it when we were there."

The man let out a sigh of relief at the news, confusing them even further at his concern over the Pokemon he'd tried to 'steal'. He then went back to the bench he'd been sitting on before, and relaxed on it without a single concern.

"We have a few questions for you." Captain Jenny began, only for him to state lazily,

"I'm not going to bother answering anything. I'll just wait until the Rangers get here." With him ending on a somewhat cocky note, the Officers were even more confused as they wondered when his confidence was coming from.

*Bang*

"You'll answer whatever questions the Captain has, criminal!" The Officer Jenny that had arrested him declared as she hit the bars of the cell with her baton.

"Officer!" The Captain stated irritably, not needing Jenny to create more problems before they had all the answers. And the way the man was acting had her growing increasingly concerned.

He then looked up suddenly as if he had noticed some thing, and said to them, "Oh? They're here already."

As if he were psychic, Captain Jenny's radio suddenly went off as one of the officers said, " Captain! The Rangers are here!"

With her instincts screaming at her that something was VERY wrong, Captain Jenny slowly replied into the radio, "very well send them down."

The sound of the security door opening echoed throughout the holding cells, before two women accompanied by a Pachirisu appeared as they made their way down the stairs.

"Hello Captain." The more mature of the two Rangers said, Wendy, as she approached the group of Officers.

"Greetings!" Captain Jenny declared as she and her Officers saluted the Rangers.

While there was no real hierarchy between the Rangers and the Officers, the Rangers were respected and admired by all due to their bravery and readiness to rush headlong into the dangerous situations they often found themselves in.

"Please Captain. That isn't necessary." Wendy said with a tone that said she was used to such treatment.

"I still can't get used to that..." Kate said quietly to her senior.

"Chu Chu!" Her Pachirisu chimed in agreement. Wendy just smiled wryly at her junior's comment, before returning to her previous serious attitude as she turned her attention back to the Captain.

"I understand that you have a suspected member of Team Rocket in custody. May we speak to them real quick to see if we can learn anything about their next move?" Wendy asked carefully, not wanting to overstep in the Officer's own precinct.

"Of course not! We were just about to question him ourselves, but he said he wanted to wait for you to arrive."

Kate and Wendy became incredibly confused when they heard that the apparent member of Team Rocket had been waiting for them, but when they quickly went to peer into the cell for themselves, their faces cramped.

"Yo."

""ACE!?!""

The two girls crying in unison surprised the gathered Officers, before Wendy suddenly whirled around and snarled angrily at them, "WHY is one of our Rangers locked up!?"

The silence that permeated the holding cells was so thick, that you could practically hear the hearts of the gathered Officers and their Captain beating nervously.

"Excuse me?" Captain Jenny asked nervously.

"I said, 'why is one of our Rangers locked up?'" Wendy repeated herself slowly, ensuring that there was no confusion in what she was asking as her temper rose. But as the Captain's confusion grew, so too did the anger towards her niece.

Whirling towards HER in anger, the Captain demanded, "Did you you REALLY arrest a Ranger of all people?!"

Now all eyes were on Officer Jenny, who immediately crumpled under the pressure as she timidly said, "h-he was stealing a Pokemon...."

It was at this point that Ace himself joined the conversation, asking, "you mean the Cranidos that I tried to return to it enclosure after it was too terrified to move from its hiding place?"

"Y-you were stealing it! I know that!" Officer Jenny declared while pointing at him accusingly.

*Bang!*

Every one of them flinched as Ace hit the bars on his cell, making the cement around them shudder slightly as he snarled at her,

"Why would I steal a Pokemon after freeing them and running off Team Rocket? A Pokemon, I might point out, that YOU pepper sprayed and tasered when you wrongly assaulted and arrested me, before parading me through the city like a prize!"

"B-but....you never said...."

"Every time I tried to speak you hit me with your baton and told me to shut up!"

"T-there wasn't any ID....."

"I had plenty on me! You just assumed everything I had was stolen, and didn't bother to check!"

Now under the glares of everyone else present, Officer Jenny tried desperately to find yet another reason to blame Ace, only for nothing to come to mind. She couldn't even use her excuse of him 'evading arrest' the night before, as the Captain had personally shot down her attempt to make the warrant.

"Let him out." The Captain then ordered her sternly, making Officer Jenny even more anxious as she muttered,

"I kinda....maybe.....lost the key...?"

"""..."""

Everyone deadpanned at Officer Jenny's sheer stupidity, before Ace suddenly asked, "Can I just bust myself out then?"

Every eye turned towards him this time, before the Captain surprised them by tiredly saying, "sure, if you can. I'll just charge her for any damages you inflict." As she said that the Captain pointed at Officer Jenny, who began to sputter and protest though no one listened. They were all watching Ace, curious as to how he planned to 'escape'.

NONE of them expected his eyes to start glowing before he delivered a powerful kick to the door of his cell.

*BANG!*

*CRASH!*

In an instant the cell door was blasted off its thick metal hinges, and sent flying into the opposite wall twisted and warped into an unrecognizable shape, stunning everyone else present.

"Now THAT felt good." Ace said with relief in his voice as he dusted himself off, before immediately marching up to the Jenny that had arrested him and grabbing her by the throat.

No one interfered as Ace pinned her to the wall, though they flinched when his fist hit the patch of wall next to her hard enough that he fractured the cement. Unknown to them he'd encased it in aura to protect it, so there was no damage to Ace's hand from the action.

But from Jenny's point of view that wasn't important, as she felt the full force of Ace's aura bearing down on her. It was suffocating. Powerful. Intoxicating.

Something like she'd never felt before rose within Officer Jenny's body as Ace pinned her to the wall, and glared at her with his glowing amber eyes.

She was so intoxicated by the feeling and his aura, that she almost missed it as Ace told her in a deathly calm voice, "if you EVER come near me, my girlfriends, or my Pokemon ever again, I'll show you just how much of a 'criminal' I could be. Do you understand?"

Jenny could barely nod her head under the pressure Ace had her under, while some small part of her rejected the action, wanting him to continue glaring at her with the pressure he was exerting.

But she did.

***

I released Officer Jenny's neck and let her collapse to the floor, the blood thundering in my ears as I did so. And while I wanted to say more to her, my chest burned with the infection that was started to spread through it.

That happened when some kid had his Grimer lob a ball of sludge at me while Officer Jenny paraded me through town, all while loudly declaring how I was a member of Team Rocket so the people would throw trash and such at me.

After being thrown into the cell I had promptly snapped my handcuffs and stripped off my soiled shirt to try and clean myself in the small sink, but hadn't been able to do a very good job.

So now I needed to get back to the inn so I could have one of the Nurses Joy take a look at me, but first I went to get my confiscated belongings and a new shirt from my backpack. As I pulled it over my head Kate hesitantly asked me,

"Are you ok, Ace?"

"Yeah. But the wound on my chest is infected now, so I need to get back to the inn to have it treated... Again."

As I said that I glanced at Officer Jenny pointedly, who fidgeted under my gaze before I put my pack on and collected my things.

Finally was my Pokeballs, which had been put into a machine that prevented the Pokemon within them from exiting of their own will. And the moment I opened it up there was a flash of light as several of my Pokemon appeared.

"K-ko!"

"Squirt!"

"Bee bee!"

"Tor!"

"Piny!"

"Tank!"

All of my Pokemon, sans Sharpedo, appeared and directed numerous angry glares at Officer Jenny for everything she'd done to me, with even little Happiny looking ready to throw hands.

"Easy guys. We need to get going." I told them placatingly, though everyone was surprised to see my Pokemon suddenly appear. Thankfully Charmander hadn't appeared, otherwise I'd have had to explain THAT can of worms.

And while their hostility hadn't lessened towards Officer Jenny in the slightest, they listened to me and returned to their Pokeballs so we could leave. I then turned towards the Captain as well as Wendy and Kate.

"I have to go now. But would the three of you like to accompany me so I can give you a firsthand account of everything that happened from the beginning?" I asked the three of them.

"Of course! Please, lead the way." Captain Jenny said while gesturing towards the exit.

And of course Wendy and Kate followed us out as I led the way, obviously wanting to hear my report of what happened as well. And when we emerged from the holding cells every eye in the precinct turned towards us, all Officers Jenny and Growlithes with a single Arcanine.

There was complete silence as we weaved through the collection of desks, not a single eye leaving us as we did so. But once the doors closed behind us, I could hear them all explode in chatter and gossip.