[FIN] A New Path

[Tori Honoo]

After being directed downtown to the League's formal office building by the officers at the training center, Dove had graciously taken her leave and made her way to the building, a curious cyndaquil draped over her shoulder, currently nosing at her scarf, determined to keep the cold away. Her left wrist remained bound in a cast, the long sleeves her sweater (and coat, for now) covering it.

When she arrived, she paused for a moment, looked around, then stepped up toward a reception desk, holding her tongue until she was sure she wouldn't be interrupting anything. "Excuse me... I was told at the Training Center that I should come here if I was interested in talking to someone about Special Operations..."  

[Suudonym]

The young man manning the desk looked up when he took notice of someone standing there and listened with a cordial smile and a nod in understanding. "Sure, we can arrange an appointment for you. Special Operations..." He thumbed through a schedule booklet. "Is there anyone in particular you were hoping to speak to?"

"What about Special Ops?" The voice was that of a young woman stepping into the reception area from the hallway that led to the offices. She wore a polite curiosity in her expression, a clipboard held against her side.

"Commander Rall--" The receptionist look to the recent arrival before gesturing to the visitor, "This young woman was looking to make an appointment, I believe."

The shorter woman followed the receptionist's gesture, offering a light smile. "Oh? I'm free right now, unless you wanted to talk to someone else specifically."  

[Tori Honoo]

Dove waited politely as the man sifted through his book, then turned her attention over to the woman quickly when she appeared. Curiosity filled her own features, and her brow furrowed a bit as she tried to place her face.

Ah. The mission against Rocket in the desert. That's where she had seen her.

The offer was accepted with a smile and a nod. "Oh, sure. That would be great, actually, if you're not busy..." she said, carefully shifting her hold on the pokemon at her shoulder. "I just wanted to get a better understanding of things."  

[Suudonym]

"Sure thing," she replied with a smile, raising a finger briefly to request a moment and passing the clipboard to the receptionist, "Ross, could you fax these for me, please?" With the man's agreement, she turned back towards the hallway she'd come from with a wave to encourage Dove to follow.

"My name is Petra Rall; I'm the commander of Kodo's Special Operations Squad." She nodded lightly to her company, "You were one of the volunteers who went with us into the desert back in summer, right? I'm sorry to say that I can't quite place your name... Oh--" She paused as the passed an open area furnished with a few comfortable chairs and a coffee table. "Sorry, would you prefer to talk in the lounge, or should we just go to my office?"  

[Tori Honoo]

She waited patiently, then followed the woman politely, careful to keep pace and listen closely. "Oh, yes. I was--and really it's okay. You can call me Dove," she responded, a light blush creeping to her face. She hoped she was recognized only for her participation, and not so much the for her performance. "It's nice to formally meet you."

When Petra slowed, the woman did as well, but smiled and shook her head. "I don't mind. Whichever you prefer is fine with me." The fact that she had a mew sitting on her shoulder--though, of course, Petra couldn't know that just yet-- in the Pokemon League's headquarters was a bit unnerving, but Trill had learned to behave himself. They would be just fine wherever the commander picked.  

[Suudonym]

"Dove," she repeated. "It's nice to meet you too."

Petra nodded at the response, lifting a hand to gesture towards the seats, "Well, then if it's all right with you, why don't we have a seat here? My office is... a bit of a mess, to tell the truth." She shrugged dismissively, wearing a slightly sheepish smile, and waited for Dove before moving to take a seat. When they had situated themselves, she gave a brief nod in prompt, "So, what would you like to ask about?"  

[Tori Honoo]

Dove settled in her seat, shaking her head dismissively. "Oh, no, that's okay! I'm the one imposing on your time, so anywhere you want is fine. Thanks for letting me chat with you," she smiled, a bit unsure as to where to begin.

Trill slid from her shoulder, toppling into her lap, where it curled carefully, still giving off its heat.

The question was met with a pause, the woman's eyes falling to the pokemon in her lap as she organized her thoughts. "I really... I'm just curious as to what Special Operations does. I mean, I know there's a training program, and I know the goal is to control and put an end to abuse... but is it just.. a police force run by the league, or is it more in-depth than that...?" She paused there, awaiting an answer, looking up once more. She knew her questions sounded ignorant, but without a solid place to start, it seemed better than anything else she could have come up with at the moment, even if she could form something of an idea for herself. With Rocket so prevalent in the area, she was sure it was much more heavily involved.  

[Suudonym]

"I think that's probably the easiest way to think of it," Petra nodded, "as the 'League police.' Most of the time, the League doesn't install a Special Ops branch in a region unless there are several big cities with a lot of reports of pokemon-related crimes. Kodo's a bit of a special case; they created a branch specifically because of Team Rocket, though once we've expanded a bit we'll most likely handle other kinds of crime as well." She crossed her legs at the ankles, resting her hands in her laps. "Unlike the standard police department, we do require our recruits to have at least one pokemon since the nature of the job necessitates that we work with pokemon so often, though there's a lot of emphasis on personal physical ability as well."  

[Tori Honoo]

"So it is mostly to fight Team Rocket?" she asked, restating the topic in a much more condensed fashion. "I mean, I figured as such, but that sounds more or less like what I thought it was." That said, she brushed her hand over Trill's head, and zoned in again, nodding. "So it's not just arcanine and growlithe, here, hm?" she joked lightly, smiling a bit. "Do you plan more... mission type things, like what we did last summer, or--" A pause. "I guess what I'm asking is... what do you do in special ops?"

Team Rocket was their main focus, though not their only one. Personal physical ability would clearly be important, and working with a team. She continued to note each item in her head.  

[Suudonym]

"In Kodo, yes," Petra confirmed, glancing to the apparent Cyndaquil as Dove's hand went to it. She smiled in return at the mild joke, "A little variety does go a long way, though I suppose we wouldn't turn away a Growlithe and Arcanine expert."

The summarized question drew a thoughtful hum, and the young woman squared her shoulders. "Well, how about an example or two?" she suggested. "Once I responded to a report of a hoarding incident. The woman was keeping seventeen Meowth in her home. The living conditions were terrible, and it was obvious they were poorly cared for. So, we ordered confiscation, gathered them up in carriers, and relocated them to a pokemon center." She turned her palm up in an indicative gesture. "This is where being able to work with pokemon comes in handy. As you can imagine, most of the Meowth were agitated and uncooperative."

She paused for a moment as she considered another anecdote, eventually finding one that was fitting, "Another time, we were tipped off that there was someone was running illegal pokemon fights... you know, not like standard battles, but pitting two angry, feral pokemon against each other and betting on the winner. Special Ops sent a team to raid the location, make arrests, and confiscate the pokemon being used. In that case, being confident in our physical abilities was important since many of the suspects were willing to use force to resist arrest."  

[Tori Honoo]

Dove smiled in return when her joke was accepted, and she nodded once.

She stayed quiet as Petra offered her examples, shaking her head solemnly at each. "That's horrid...It's mostly domestic work, then? Not just Team Rocket?" she asked, doing her best to keep her notes clean and organized in her head. Both of the events described, while awful, had little to do with Rocket than she had expected. She had imagined they would be more focused on the battle at hand, though she was sure they were obviously heavily involved, given the criminal organization's nature. "I mean, I guess you haven't been established here for very long...Not many stories from here yet, I hope..." Surely those were examples from wherever the woman had been stationed last, though already, she was positive she could name three massive instances the League had been involved in Kodo.  

[Suudonym]

"In other regions, yes," she confirmed. "Like I said, Kodo is a special case. Here, our primary objective is containing and subduing Team Rocket. The region is small enough that its own police force can deal with many of the problems Special Ops would tackle in, for instance, Kanto or Unova. If it weren't for the Rocket activity here, I doubt the League would have considered creating a branch at all." She shook her head, waving her hand lightly, "Oh no, fortunately - or unfortunately, depending on your perspective - we haven't had much to respond to so far since the Kodo branch was established. Thankfully it at least gives us a little more time to try and increase our numbers, though."  

[Tori Honoo]

Another nod. "I see. So, what do you do here, then, with this branch? Intel work? Do you have field officers out doing what you just described, or is it... basically a desk job until you hear something?" she asked, calm and curious. A small smile. "To be honest, I'm very glad there hasn't been much to respond to, lately. I mean... I would like to hear anything that could lead us to them, but at least nothing has been too tragic since Champion Lance..." Her smile faded quickly, and her gaze flicked away from the commander's face. "A-At least, that I know of," she added hastily, not wanting to sound as though she knew the inner workings of the League.  

[Suudonym]

"I, personally, am stuck at my desk until something big comes up," she said, pouting briefly. "Right now we have very few officers to allocate, so while we are running a few investigations throughout the island, the results are sadly a bit lacking." A sympathetic nod, "Certainly no one wants to have another tragedy on our hands, but it would be a nice change of pace if we could turn something up. Team Rocket has been very quiet lately - just loud enough for us to know they're still here to at least some extent, but too subtle to pin down."  

[Tori Honoo]

A brief, understanding smile flickered in her features at the little pout the woman gave. "Right, I understand... So is that what you're looking for? Officers to gather information?" It certainly sounded as though that was what they needed.

Her brow furrowed a little. "What have they done recently?" she asked in reference to the organizations subtle presence. "I mean, I know they wouldn't have disbanded after we captured the few..." Her brow furrowing became a frown; she still wasn't pleased that they had traded all the captured rockets for the champion, given the way it had turned out.