AN: This is my first fanfic that I'm posting here, hope you like it! It won't have many of the characters from the games/anime in it (with the exception of Kris), since it's more an exploration of the Ranger Union in regions where trainers also exist, and focuses more on setting and culture. Tell me what you think! I should probably warn you that the religions from Twitch Plays Pokémon are legit religions in this setting, just because I thought they add more texture.
Ecruteak City was a town of ghosts. Everyone knew that. Not so much ghosts you'd want to avoid, just ghosts you'd settle into to lose yourself. Nostalgic and comforting, if a little bit sad.
Lily swirled her cup of tea and downed it, the spiralling water in sync with the twirling of the dancers on stage. Most people didn't truly feel the ghosts of Ecruteak, especially on the sunniest, most postcard-perfect day in summer, regardless of what the tourism board would have you think. It was only at times like these that they made themselves known. Times when it was raining, dark and deep at night. For Lily, however, the ghosts were worse than your average. They were brutal, anxious, a culmination of everything dark in the past.
She put the cup onto the floor and stood up abruptly, causing the heads of those sitting next to her to turn suddenly. She didn't care, she just slipped past them, into the torrent, hoping that nobody had seen her tears. She splashed out, kicking through puddles, through the streets, followed by Fiona, her Froslass, who bore a worried expression beneath her icy mask. There was usually someone playing beautiful music outside, but not now. Now there was no sound but the falling rain.
The Bell Tower loomed over her, the soft golden light melting through the gloomy rain. Fiona glided next to her, and rested a cool hand on her shoulder, calling softly. Lily sighed, sniffed, and wiped her eyes. She would be okay.
She headed towards the Pokémon Centre.
A man watched Lily from the corner of the room as she left, eyes shrouded beneath a grey hat. He patted the pokeballs on the inside of his jacket, as if to just check that they were there, and then reached towards his briefcase.
There were eyes everywhere. He knew they were there. He was one of them.
The door to the theatre closed behind Lily with its usual jingling of bells, and the man patted his jacket again. It was a nervous tic, but years in this business gave you quite a few of them. He gripped the briefcase tightly, and waited.
After what he felt was an appropriate amount of time, he got up and quietly left the building.
He had to hang back a bit when he saw that she was still standing out in the rain. He didn't want the girl to think she was being followed, now, did he?
The television in the Pokémon Centre was buzzing. There had been an attack.
The Indigo Plateau, the closest thing the region had to a centre of government. Captured. Reports were still coming in, but everyone knew who had done it. Who else would? And if it wasn't abundantly obvious anyway, the attackers had marked the courtyard of the complex with a single letter.
R.
Lily had been expecting this, watching the screen from the corner of the centre. She'd spent months anticipating something like it. She knew it was out of her hands, but she still felt ill. The ordeal wasn't over, it still wasn't over. It was about to get worse. She felt herself shaking, and put her head in her hands, trying to dispel the thoughts. She couldn't do anything about this. This wasn't her fault. Fiona nudged Lily's arm. Everything had been so bad that she'd had to register her team as carer Pokémon.
She closed her eyes and orange light flared in her memory, followed by swirling water and increasing pressure. She tried to do what she'd learnt, tried to turn the unyielding waters into her Ludicolo's gentle bubbles, but she couldn't. She hadn't even evolved Pine at that time, how could he be a Ludi-
"Ma'am."
The waters deepened and pressed over her, but then suddenly disappeared. Now, there was a figure in front of her. It was shadowy at first, but it solidified. A body, in a coffin. She couldn't make out the features as the lid shut, but she knew who it was anyway.
"Ma'am, are you okay?"
The coffin shook. Shadowy arms grew from beneath the lid, eyes opened on the top. This hadn't ha-
"Ma'am!"
The Confagrigus faded away slowly, and Lily became aware of her surrounding again. Fiona had been wailing, and there was a nurse in front of her, shaking her arm.
Lily didn't think she'd been breathing.
"Are you okay?" asked the nurse again.
"Yeah, fine," said Lily, feeling her feverish forehead. "Just… bad memories."
"Do you have anywhere to stay for the night?" said the nurse. "Or any emergency contacts? We can offer you a bed."
"I… I'm fine," said Lily, starting to sound more relaxed now. "Anyway, my emergency contacts will probably be contacting me, soon. I think one of them is outside."
With that said, she got up and left the building before the nurse could think of a reply.
The man had just been about to enter the Pokémon Centre when Lily left. She grabbed his arm and gently but firmly steered him in her direction.
"Right, you," she said, although she didn't sound angry, just sad. "I know you've been following me."
"Uh…"
Lily looked down at him. He was such a meddler, but it was hard to be angry with the little old man. He had his stupid fedora on, which covered his usually carefully combed white hair and incredibly bushy beard. She saw him tapping his jacket a few times with his free hand, while the other gripped his briefcase.
"Why don't you just let them out?" she asked. "If you're so worried they're going to be taken."
"I can't just send out my whole team. That would be rude. This isn't Fiore, you know."
"I'm aware. What do you want, Hugh? Did Chairperson Erma send you?"
"You know what I want," said Hugh. "You saw what happened."
There was no reply. Hugh followed Lily as they walked down the raining streets of Ecruteak, through the alleyways to god-knows-where. They knew that Lily had been living here, despite her doctors urging her to move to Hoenn - Verdanturf or Lavaridge - for the time being. The air would do her good. The ghosts of Ecruteak clearly weren't.
"You know I can't help," said Lily. "I'm in no state to help. I literally just had another attack."
"Is Fiona taking care of you?"
Lily patted her Froslass affectionately. "She is."
"And where's-"
"We're going to get him now," said Lily. She sighed deeply. "I know they said he'd help. But I can't take care of a baby right now. I need to take care of myself."
She stopped in front of an inn. The windows were orange, and the figurehead of an Aerodactyl carved into wood was over the door, with a lantern hanging from its mouth.
"They're a little odd," Lily admitted, "but the rent is cheap, and they're kind."
She pushed the door open, and beckoned for Hugh to follow. The room was sparse, but welcoming, and an old lady sat on a cushion in the centre, holding a Togepi and drinking a cup of tea. There were two doors in the back, presumably leading to stairs and other rooms. Lily slipped off her shoes, and took the Togepi from the lady, who smiled warmly at them.
"Who is this?" she asked.
"Hugh," said Lily, simply. "Leader of the Johto branch of the Rangers. Hugh, this is Anne. Is James out?"
"Yes," replied Anne, her expression slipping to one of worry. "He went to the mart. I saw the news. Will he be safe out there?"
"For now, yes," said Hugh.
Lily, sat down next to Anne, cradling the Togepi in her arms. As much as she said she didn't want him, Hugh could see that he comforted her. He didn't really want to separate them, if he was honest. After some hesitation, he removed his heavy boots, took off his hat and sat down next to Lily.
"Anyway, Hugh," said Lily, "why are you here, looking for me, when the Indigo Plateau has been taken?"
"We need you," said Hugh.
"You don't. I'm not going to be much use to you as I am right now. I submitted my report, it has everything you need in it."
"You were a good ranger. A good Johto ranger, and we know you're rare for that. You have more experience with these guys than any of us-"
"What about Red, or Kris?"
"Red's with the others in the league. He lost to them. Nobody knows where Kris is. We are looking for her, but the last we knew she was heading to Kalos, so it will take some time for us to get her back. Anyway, they're still both just teenagers."
"I watched someone die."
Anne and Fiona exchanged worried glances, and Anne busied herself to making more tea. Hugh lowered his eyes and fiddled with the hat in his hands.
"I know," he said. "We all lost a good… a good ranger that day."
Lily snorted. "He wasn't even a good ranger. He was a douche. But he saved my life, and he shouldn't have died."
"Lily," Hugh's voice was pleading, "we've failed. They control the Indigo Plateau. They've taken the region. We already failed once. Don't let us do it again."
Lily looked away, into the nothing-in-particular in the corner of the room. "Let me think about it," she said. "Give me until tomorrow."
Hugh sighed. That was further than they'd gotten in a year, and he was willing to take it. "Very well," he said.
Lily nodded, without turning back around, stood up and left the room, still cradling her Togepi.
Anne passed the second cup of tea to Hugh and looked at the third sadly.
"Amber guide us."