Chapter 1: The Beginning It was a cold, late fall evening in Ringtown. The cold outside was chilling, and all of the rangers were hanging out in the warmth of the base. Almost all of them, anyway. There was one ranger out. Lunick Kaneko was just returning from his latest mission. His uniform was cut and stained with his blood. The cold rain stung his wounds with every drop. He looked down at his little yellow partner and smiled. "Hey, Minun. Thanks for the help, buddy. I couldn't have done it without you." "Mai mai!" The little pokemon replied. Lunick reached the door to the base and stepped inside. Everybody was hanging out, when suddenly-

"Lunick!"

Solana screamed as she jumped out of her chair and rushed over to Lunick. She then grabbed his shirt collar and dragged him into a chair.

"Are you okay?! What happened?"

"I'm fine, Solana. Just a few scratches." Solana wrapped him in a thick blanket and gave him some hot chocolate. Almost every ranger was staring at them smirking. That caught Solana's attention. She looked up at them.

"What?" She asked quizzically. Spencer was the first to speak up.

"You two take care of each other like you're married. It's a surprise that you two aren't sharing a room up there yet." Everyone in the base was listening now. The girls were giggling in the corner, but the boys weren't hiding their laughter at all. Solana gave a big 'hmph!' and helped Lunick up.

"Here, I'll help you to your bed. You need some rest." All of the guys were booing at this.

"Don't be a wimp, Lunick!" "Stop being a baby!" "Way to suck it up. Ha ha!" Lunick ignored them and let Solana help him to the elevator. Before they went in, Lunick looked over his shoulder at the disapproving faces of the other men around him. He grinned and gave an evil *wink* to them. The was a short moment before understanding dawned on them. Then every guy was on the floor crying with laughter. Appearently Solana noticed this movement, because there was a large "Ow!" from within the elevator. This only increased the hilarity of the moment.

"Why'd you have to do that, Solana?" Lunick said as he rubbed his cheek. He was sitting on his bed, about to go to sleep.

"Because you deserved it. I saw that wink." Solana replied as she closed the door and went to her own room. Lunick sighed.

"Good night, minun." "Mai mai..." Lunick stared at the ceiling as he slowly drifted off to sleep.

Solana woke up on a sunny Sunday morning. She stretched her arms as she sat up. Plusle fell out of her lap onto the floor and got up rubbing her head.

"Sorry, Plusle." Solana said as she opened the door and went into the hallway. As she was walking out, she heard a muffled noise that caught her attention. The noises were screams... and coming from Lunick's room.

"Lunick? Are you okay?!" Solana yelled. She was getting worried. She opened the door and ran in.

Lunick woke up covered in sweat. He looked up to see Solana looking down at him yelling his name.

"Solana?"

"Oh, thank goodness you're okay. You were screaming like crazy. What's wrong?" Lunick closed his eyes for a second before reopening them.

"Nothing... I was just having a bad dream about when we caught Groudon. That's all." Solana sighed.

"Okay, well lets get going. It's our day off and it's already 10:00." Solana went back to her room and got dressed. They met outside the ranger base. Solana was wearing a dark purple long-sleeved t-shirt and gray running pants. Lunick had put on a gray hoodie and some unkempt jeans.

"You have the worst sense of fashon, Lunick." Solana said as they headed towards the road to Fall City.

"Are you kidding me? I have a great sense of fashion." Solana scoffed.

"Oh, please. The only thing worse then your fashion sense is your taste of music."

"Hey! I can like country music if I want to."

"Whatever. Let's just try not to be late for the others." They headed to a café in the middle of Fall City. When they walked in, they saw Leilani, Percy, and Murph waiting in a corner booth for them.

"Hey, Leil." Solana said cheerily.

"Perce! Murphy, my man!" Lunick pushed past Solana and gave them both a hi-five.

"So how's it going with you two?" Solana asked, motioning toward Leilani and Percy.

"Nothin' much. Not like anything goes on in Summerland, though. We had to catch an angry Heracross 'bout three days back, nothing bad, but thats it. What's up with the Ringtown Duo here?" This time Lunick replied.

"Had to go do some research in the forest, two rampaging Typhlosion, and an army of Scizor. Same old same old."

"You call THAT same old same old? You're crazy." Percy exclaimed."

"Whatever. So how've you been, Murph?"

"Grea-" Murph began, but was cut off as there was a loud 'BANG!' in the café. Two huge men burst through the door. One was bald with a short black mustache. The other had a black crew cut and a goatee. Everyone turned around to look at these two behemoths. Upon catching sight of these men, Lunick immediately stood up and proceeded to walk toward them, his face set in a deep line.

"Lunick?" Solana asked.

"Stay out of this." Lunick replied curtly. The two men and Lunick met near the door.

"What are you two doing here?" Lunick asked the bald one.

"Boss man wants to speak to you, Lunick." He replied.

"I gave Ol' Jimmy my terms. He can find me."

"He doesn't think you're worth it. So you're going to him."

"I don't think so. I'll prove I'm worth it." Solana was scared. Those men were both about 6'1" and 225 lbs. Lunick was 5'11" and only 185. The bald man suddenly rushed Lunick with a right hook. Lunick grabbed it and dragged the man into a severe knee to his sternum. Lunick gave him a swift hit to the nose and the bald behemoth crumpled. By then, the goateed man was upon him. Lunick sidestepped his uppercut and finished him with a single left hook. Both men had been incapacitated, and Lunick was unscathed. He grinned maliciously and turned to see the shocked and quizzical faces of his friends. He had some explaining to do.