Hong Meiling Sleepwalks Through the Heavens

The Pokémon Center was quick in their work. After Hong Meiling handed her three Poké Balls to Nurse Joy, it only took a few moments for her to be done.

She wasn’t in a hurry to leave. She stopped by the café area of the center to have some tea, and released Plus, Mine, and Cotton for them to have a meal as well.

I can’t release Heatran here, or I might cause a scene. I guess becoming a Legendary Pokémon has its downsides.

Meiling got herself a piece of cake and a cup of black tea. As she stuffed a forkful of cake in her mouth, she immersed herself in the afterglow of victory.

She was sitting by a window and spent her time people-watching. It was a relatively, pleasant afternoon of her becoming a dimension-travelling tourist.

However, this peace didn’t last long. Outside the window, she could see Petal running into the Pokémon Center as she took another bite of her cake.

“Nurse Joy, please heal my Pokémon!” Petal shouted in a hurry.

Looking back, Meiling frowned. Petal… lost to the Pokémon Hunter? What Pokémon Hunter is strong enough to defeat a Gym Leader?

As Petal handed all of his Poké Balls to Nurse Joy, he caught a glimpse of Meiling’s red hair, and hurriedly walked over to the café.

“Miss Meiling!” Petal greeted, panting. “I’m sorry if this is sudden or rude, but we need your help to deal with the Pokémon Hunter.”

All of Petal’s signature Pokémon were defeated by this enigmatic opponent, and the opponent only sent out a single Pokémon, much like how Meiling relied on Heatran alone.

Petal was flabbergasted as he watched all of his Pokémon fall unconscious – why become a Pokémon Hunter when you have the strength to become part of the Elite Four? He wondered to himself.

All he had in his mind was Meiling’s Heatran.

“A Pokémon Hunter?” Meiling asked. “Just one? Are they that strong?”

“Yes, just one,” Petal sighed. “She calls herself J, and she has a Salamence that is incredibly powerful.”

It’s… her, Meiling breathed out.

J is a Pokémon hunter who appears in the anime, and is both greedy and cruel, doing anything it takes to steal Pokémon away from others.

Moreover, she was incredibly strong. In the anime, Ash and his team came across J several times, only to lose unceremoniously to her. It took strong reinforcements to come to defeat her.

No wonder Petal couldn’t defeat her.

“…I will do my best to help,” Meiling nodded.

Petal sighed a breath of relief. He believes that, with the help of Meiling and Heatran, J could be brought to justice.

At the same time, Officer Jenny walked into the Pokémon Center with a little girl who was crying.

She looked about the same age as Maylene, and Meiling could immediately infer the reason why she was crying – her Pokémon got stolen.

Officer Jenny’s eyes landed on Petal, and she held the girl’s hand and walked towards both Petal and Meiling.

“J has escaped our siege, and we have lost her. I’m afraid we’re unable to trace her,” Officer Jenny reported.

“How?” Petal’s eyes widened as he punched Meiling’s table in annoyance. “She escaped the police reinforcements? Damn it.”

Meiling turned her head towards the little girl and comforted, “Hey, don’t cry – come on, tell me, what Pokémon did that big, evil lady steal from you?”

The little girl continued to sob and cried, “M-My Milotic! I was fighting with other Trainers earlier, and she appeared out of nowhere and s-s-s-stole my Milotic! A-a-and she stole this guy’s Kingdra too!”

Excuse me? A Milotic? And a Kingdra? Children these days…!

There were open-air battle arenas for Trainers to compete in when using air-based Pokémon. Meiling guessed that J stumbled upon them and decided to snatch away the two Pokémon. After all, both the Milotic and Kingdra are relatively rare, and can be sold for a high price.

J possesses a device that sort of puts Pokémon in a state of petrification, rendering them immobile. She uses this device and takes the opportunity to snatch them away.

Meiling reached out and patted the little girl’s head, “Don’t worry, I will definitely snatch your Milotic back from that stinky woman!”

Officer Jenny’s head tilted as she stared at Meiling. She recalled seeing her in Veilstone Gym earlier, and thought that she was just an ordinary challenger.

Petal noticed her gaze and assured Officer Jenny, “Don’t worry, she has powerful Pokémon. With her help, we can catch J.”

“Again, we have no way of knowing her whereabouts. We lost her, remember?”

“Ah.”

No matter how powerful a Trainer is, J could simply run away after getting what she wants. She had no reason to stay and fight.

Officer Jenny had contacted the police force to set up a siege in the middle of the road, but somehow, J evaded capture. Earlier, J captured her Growlithe too. How do you pin down such a cunning criminal?

“I have an idea,” Meiling spoke. “She wants rare Pokémon, correct? Why don’t I use Heatran as bait? We could spread rumors that a Heatran was spotted in Veilstone City – if J hears this, surely, she won’t leave Veilstone when a Legendary Pokémon is on the loose. We can use that opportunity to catch her.”

Petal cheered, and gave Meiling a high-five, “Yes! They are nothing but greedy pigs! If they learn that your Heatran is out and about, they’ll come and catch it! Yes! This is our chance!”

Officer Jenny looked at Meiling in shock, “You have a Heatran?”

Heatran, being a Legendary Pokémon, cannot easily be acquired by ordinary Trainers, and to Officer Jenny, Meiling fits the bill of ‘ordinary Trainer.’

Meiling nodded. Officer Jenny turned to the side, and Petal gave an affirmative nod, “You heard her.”

Officer Jenny nodded, and thought about the feasibility of Meiling’s plan.

Indeed, if we use Heatran as bait, J will most likely take it. But I can’t guarantee that we will be able to capture her. What if we achieve nothing, and she runs away with a Heatran?

“This might sound like a logical idea, but…” Officer Jenny glanced at Meiling. “If we fail to catch J, she will be running home with your Heatran.”

Although Heatran is strong, it might not be able to defeat J’s Salamence. Officer Jenny was traumatized by her Salamence, since one of Pokémon was killed by it. Officer Jenny thought that Heatran might also be defeated.

“Don’t worry. If she shows up, I will capture her,” Meiling smiled with confidence.

Meiling believes that Heatran is strong enough to deal with J. Hell, if worst comes to worst, she would send herself out into battle.

Unless J has a god of a Pokémon in her arsenal, she would not be able to defeat Meiling.

“Alright,” Officer Jenny nodded. They had no other solutions, and seeing how confident Meiling was, she could only put her trust in the girl-in-green. She and Petal will act as backup too, so the chances of victory should be quite high.

The three sat in the café and formulated a simple plan – Meiling will go around Veilstone City and challenge other Trainers with her Heatran, so that news will spread like fire among Pokémon Trainers.

And from the afternoon to the evening, seven Trainers in total fought with Meiling.

To nobody’s surprise, the seven Trainers lost almost instantly. The strongest among them had a Swampert, who is a Water and Ground-type Pokémon. Despite the odds pushed in its favor ever so slightly, it was defeated swiftly nonetheless.

Just a single day of fighting was not enough for news to spread, but by night time, the entirety of Veilstone City knew that a Trainer had a Heatran on her. The issue now is that news had yet to spread outside of Veilstone City.

Hence, Meiling decided to stay in the Pokémon Center for the night and rested. The next day, she continued to fight both residents and visitors of Veilstone City. In a single morning, she fought against ten Trainers.

Some of them challenged her after hearing the rumors of a red-haired, girl-in-green possessing the Legendary Heatran.

…

On Route 209, on the outskirts of Hearthorne City lied an inconspicuous building, but within, it concealed many strange, high-tech devices.

This is a temporary base set up by J’s team as a point of refuge.

In the anime, J and her team operates a large airship as a mobile base. However, for now, they do not have the resources to do so. In the dark hallways of the building, J held an unreadable expression as talked on the phone.

“…is that true? A Heatran?”

“Yes, a Heatran – I went out to fight with the rumored Trainer with the Heatran, and sure enough, she sent it out and beat my Pokémon in a single move.”

J was surprised, but her expression morphed to one of greed and excitement.

If I capture this Heatran and sell it, just how much money will I get?

But…

J had her doubts – she was in Veilstone City a few days ago, and as soon as she left, a Heatran appears? She guessed that it might be a trap, but the opportunity was simply too big to give up.

Perhaps I’ll pay a little visit to Veilstone.