Kate easily captured the Blastoise of Vein Forest, the same one as she had caught when she was just a rookie trying to keep calm during a forest fire. Kate always kept calm, always tried to think clearly and see a solution. She even managed to do it in a crisis, although nowadays, there was hardly a crisis in Almia. Ever since Operation Brighton, the most the Rangers had to deal with were simple quests and patrols.
Kate finished her final loop, and the Blastoise instantly became friendly. Kate gave a small smile, and gave her partner Pachirisu a quick scratch behind the ear, figuring that she should circle the forest one more time before reporting that everything was alright there.
As she turned to leave, though, she was struck from behind!
As her Styler's energy dropped, she swung around to see what had hit her. Luckily, Ranger outfits were specially made to deal with damage, so the worst she had gotten was bruises.
Finding herself face-to-face with another Blastoise, she fired up her Styler, taking a deep breath. There was supposed to be just one Blastoise in this area! Deep breath. One of the Wartortle must have evolved. As she began to capture it, though, she was hit from behind again.
When she saw a second Blastoise, she felt panic bubbling within her. She took a large breath, while frantically counting, trying to push it back. She could do this.
Kate first tried to capture them without Assists, but the Pokémon were clever. They wouldn't go near each other, and when she attempted to capture one, the other would attack her.
As her Styler beeped to tell her it was at half energy, Kate had to take another deep breath. She flipped open the panel to activate her Poké Assists, and selected her partner. Pachirisu hopped of her shoulder, ready for action. Kate figured that after stunning the two, they would be easy to capture.
She was wrong. For just the second her Styler was in position near the Pokémon to allow Pachirisu's electricity to strike, they would manage to attack and disrupt it. After the time frame of the Poké Assist had run out, her Styler began beeping frantically to say it was dangerously low.
Kate was filled with not just panic, but fear. The same fear Darkrai reminded her of as she had confronted it. The fear of failing as a Ranger, of being a disgrace. She should run, and she tried to, but her legs refused to move.
As she was hit with a pounding stream of water, she heard her Styler pop and fizzle. When the water had stopped, she could see that its screen was blank, and smoke poured out of it.
She watched as the Blastoise she had just captured dashed to the other two, wondering if they would strike her down together. However, she was once again wrong.
She watched as the Blastoise that had left her nuzzled the two lovingly, with the air of a parent greeting its child. The three of them ignored her, watching off to the marsh.
She heard the Staraptor she had with her cry out, then turn and fly into the sky. Kate turned to her last Pokémon left, her partner.
She and Pachirisu locked eyes, with something filling her partner's eyes that she couldn't describe. Pachirisu turned away from her quickly and ran into the forest. Kate was left with an outstretched hand towards the woods, a plea to wait on her lips.
Kate found herself sitting on the ground, a numbness filling her body. She kept looking between her broken Styler and the gap in the trees where her partner had run. A bystander would think she was trying to puzzle things out, but internally, Kate couldn't think of anything.
"So there are now three Blastoise in Vein Forest," stated Professor Hastings. Kate nodded in conformation. "Hmm." He began to pace back and forth. After a few seconds, he turned to face Kate again. "Your Styler might take a while to repair, as we aren't used to repairing broken Vatonage Stylers." Kate nodded again, in understanding. "So why don't you take the next few days off? Go see your family. We will send someone to get you when your Styler is fixed."
Kate nodded, and left the conference room. On her way out, she ran into Wendy. "Hey! You okay, Kate?" Kate nodded once more. "Good. I was worried when I was told the your Styler signal went missing, so of course I didn't hesitate to swing by to check on you." Kate lowered her eyes to the floor.
"Hey. Don't worry about it," said Wendy softly. Kate looked up to see her give a small smile. "Just think of it as like a vacation." Kate nodded hesitantly. Wendy gave a larger smile. "Do you want we to give you a ride home?" asked Wendy. Kate nodded again, though more eagerly than last time.
As they climbed onto the back of Wendy's Staraptor after they had left the Union, Kate thought of her own partner Pokémon. Why did they run off? Had they only stayed with her because of the Styler? Before Kate knew it, they had arrived in Chicole Village, and she had no answers to her questions.
"See you later, Kate!" called Wendy as she flew off, leaving Kate in front of her house. Kate's first instinct was to run to the Save Machine and back up her Styler data, sending it to the Union, but stopped herself as she remembered that the reason for her constant usage of the machines had happened.
She next wanted to go to Partner Farm, were her dad likely was, but for some reason the idea of seeing her partners caused her stomach to tie into a knot. She wondered if they would even be there.
Kate took deep breaths again, to push back whatever feeling it was she was feeling. She walked up to the door and knocked, trying to push the negative thoughts away. She felt a smile form on her face as her little sister answered the door, her sister's face forming one as well.
"Mom, mom, Big sister's home!" she cried happily. She dashed back into the house, Kate following her inside. She was greeted warmly by her mother. "Hello, dear." She noticed that Kate wasn't wearing her Styler. "What happened, dear?"
After Kate explained her situation, her mother nodded. "I understand. Maybe you should go upstairs and rest." Her little sister frowned "Aw, but I wanted to play with big sister!" she whined. Her mother smiled at her younger daughter, and said, "Why don't you go see if your dad needs any help?" "Okay, mom!," her little sister perked up at the idea and raced out the door.
Kate walked up the stairs, thanking her mom. "Its no trouble. Just get some rest." As Kate entered her room, she noticed how, even when taken care of, her room showed signs of being unused. The spines of books had a thin layer of dust on them, as did the Wii controlers. Kate collapsed onto her bed, not even bothering to take her boots off, and attempted to sleep.
