Chapter 1
A Plunge through the Skies!
Once upon a time, long ago, the islands of Oblivia were protected by an ancient Hero whose bonds with Pok mon were amazingly strong. So strong, in fact, that the Hero was able to summon Pokemon at will without the use of a Poke Ball or Styler.
The Hero eventually saved Oblivia from the iron grip of the evil Ancient Ruler, freeing the people of Oblivia from further harm and fear.
But then, without warning, he disappeared...
Skreee!
The Staraptor that Tess was riding zoomed through the clouds, flapping its wings occasionally to keep itself aloft. Tess gripped the neck feathers of the bird-like Pokemon carefully, trying to stay on but not lose any speed.
Above her, two mysterious characters riding what appeared to be air scooters were pursuing a Latias. The Eon Pokemon looked exhausted, as if it had been flying night and day - and as far as Tess knew, maybe it had.
The two men on the scooters had not yet been alerted to her presence. As they flew on, Tess strained to hear what they were saying.
"Whee ha!" the one on the left exclaimed. "These Z.Z. Flyers sure go fast!"
"Just give it up already!" the one on the right cried. "Do you really think you can get away, Latias?"
"You really don t know when to give up!" the first one sneered. "We've got you now!"
Tess decided that now was about the best time to let her presence be known. She burst up through the clouds and confronted the unknown pursuers.
"And just what do you think you re doing to that Latias?" she exclaimed, feeling a wave of triumph at their surprised faces.
The one on the left (Lefty) quickly came to a conclusion. "What the...it's a Pokemon Ranger! How'd she get here?"
"I flew," Tess replied dryly.
Suddenly the VoiceNav on her Capture Styler spoke. "Your adversaries are using Pokemon to attack."
Tess nodded. "Thanks, VoiceNav." Almost without batting an eye she captured the Pidgey that had been sent out, making a normally challenging midair capture look painfully easy. Had the Pokemon been anything harder, the capture would have definitely been more difficult. "Really, guys? A Pidgey? This isn t Ranger School!"
Taking advantage of the distraction, the Latias flew away as Tess completed the capture.
"Crap," Lefty complained. "Our Pidgey was captured, and now our target got away too. What next, another Ranger?"
"Don't jinx us!" snapped the one on the right (Righty). "Anyway, that's not all we ve got up our sleeves, Ranger. This is how we dispose of unnecessary trash: with a Plasma Cannon!"
A what? Tess thought, although she soon found her answer. Two bright green blasts suddenly shot out of Lefty's scooter, and Tess quickly made a move to dodge.
"Try and avoid our double-team attack!" Righty crowed. Together the two unknown foes shot at Tess with their Plasma Cannons. With difficulty Tess attempted to dodge, and winced as one clipped her Staraptor's wing.
"Hang on, Staraptor," she murmured. Tess was prepared to make an emergency landing on the next round of blows when the two men suddenly stopped shooting.
"Oh, crap!" Righty moaned. "We're out of ammo!"
"Maybe shooting wildly at the Ranger wasn't the best of ideas," Lefty muttered.
"Never mind that! We'll just have to ram 'em!"
Oh, God, Tess thought. Here it comes!
"Stop right there! Are you sure you want to do that? 'Cause now you have to deal with two of us!"
A second Staraptor appeared, and on its back rode another Ranger. Like Tess, he had goggles over his eyes and a yellow scarf that flapped in the wind behind him.
"I told you not to jinx us!" Righty snapped at his partner.
Now Tess was surprised too. "Wait a second. Ben? From Ranger School? What are you...?"
"Hastings sent me to assist you on your Mission," Ben explained. "It's been a while. Miss me?"
"Of course not, you jerk!" Tess snapped. "I haven't forgotten what happened, you know. And as you can see, I'm handling this Mission perfectly well!"
"Doesn't look like it to me," Ben said. "You didn't think that you could handle these guys by yourself, did you?"
"I-I probably could if I wanted to!" Tess retorted, feeling the blood rise to her cheeks.
"This isn't any good!" Lefty wailed. "Our Plasma Cannons aren't working, Rangers keep popping up...I hate to say it, but it looks like we have to retreat!" They started to fly away, and Tess felt herself start to relax.
"Hold it! Now there's one more on our side, too!"
A third unknown foe raced to the scene, although he was considerably different than his apparent colleagues. His blonde hair had a red streak in it, and instead of the dark green vests the others wore, his was a bright red.
"Our Leader!" Lefty exclaimed, relieved. "Those two are Pokemon Rangers!"
"I can see that," the leader replied calmly. "This is my first time seeing flying Rangers, though." His lip curled into a small snarl. "Two aerial Ranger brats putting on airs with their bright red goggles and yellow scarves. What a joke!"
"...says the leader of a group who couldn't even handle two 'brats'!" Ben retorted boldly. "If you're so much better than us, why don't you prove it?"
Tess felt herself groaning inwardly. Ben was an excellent Ranger (Tess had to admit it, despite him being her rival) but his outbursts had often gotten him into trouble many times at the Ranger School back in Almia. Now was no different; his comments were sure to make things worse.
"Do you know the consequences of mouthing off like that?" the leader snapped. "I have just the sport for a tough-talking brat like you. Sky-diving...without the parachute!" Without warning he suddenly fired several shots from his Plasma Cannon.
Tess wasn't sure what drove her to what happened next. It was as if an unseen force was compelling her to act as she suddenly dove between Ben and the shot. Almost as soon as she did it Tess knew that it would be something that she looked back on with regret; but at this point it was too late.
The impact of the blast seemed to reach every inch of her body. Tess screamed as her Staraptor shot away, finally too scared to withstand it any longer. Her head felt light and dizzy as she started her sudden, imminent plunge into the vast ocean of Oblivia.
When the light of the blast finally cleared, Ben looked around. Tess and her Staraptor were nowhere in sight...what was going on?
"Hold up," Ben said. "What happened? And where did Tess go?"
"Sacrificing herself to save her friend," the leader sang out in a mocking tone. "How bold. You should at least thank your partner for saving you, Ranger. Because now she's taking a one-way trip to the bottom of the ocean!"
"What?" Ben exclaimed. "She she saved me, and now she's falling into the ocean?"
"Well now," the leader snickered. "You seem lucky. Maybe we'll make you into our lucky charm!"
Crap, Ben thought to himself. There's nothing I can do now. He looked down at the clouds below him. I just hope Tess is okay.
Tess lost all her composure as she fell. She wanted to scream, but it felt like her throat was paralyzed. Strangely enough, there was no sound; it was as if the world had suddenly been turned onto mute by a huge remote.
OhcrapohcrapohCRAAAAAAP, Tess moaned silently. I hate, hate, hate, HATE heights! I can barely tolerate them while I'm on a Staraptor; freefalling just makes my fear a LOT worse.
Oddly enough, the thought never ran through her head that she might die. It just didn t process. It was as if the mere possibility was nothing but fantasy.
Die? Me? It's not going to happen. Tess suddenly felt determined. I'm not going to LET it happen. As the ocean below rapidly approached her view, faster and faster, Tess snapped her goggles on, prepared her Micro Aqualung and thought, Everything will be okay. I will NOT die.
The water came as a shock. Even though Tess had been expecting it, it still surprised her; it took her a couple of minutes to get used to it. It was only when she opened her eyes, seeing through her goggles, that she realized her Styler had become unattached.
"The Capture Styler has come off!" VoiceNav intoned from the falling Styler, getting quieter and quieter. "Urgent! Reattach the Capture Styler! The Capture Styler has come off! Urgent..."
Tess followed the sound of VoiceNav, never taking her eyes off the small red device that was sinking lower and lower. That is, until a playful Mantyke took it and started swimming away.
"Oh no, you don't", Tess grumbled. "This has turned out to be a crappy day as-is. Please don't make it any worse." The Mantyke looked at her for one long moment as if it understood...
...and then proceeded to swim away.
Tess sighed and headed into pursuit. It was a long chase down, but she finally managed to catch up with the Mantyke near the bottom of the sea, around some old ruins.
As Tess retrieved the Styler she couldn't help but look around. Broken stone pillars surrounded the area, presumably the remains of ancient ruins. Looking down, Tess could just see now that she was swimming over a large platform with a rainbow-colored design.
It's pretty, Tess murmured to herself, but what is...
She never got to finish her sentence. The VoiceNav suddenly began to sound an alert.
"Danger! Danger! Massive object approaching! I repeat: Massive obje..."
A sudden rumbling filled the area. Panicked, Tess tried to swim up, but a swirling current was keeping her in place. There was nothing she could do as a large submarine headed straight for her, as the sucking current pulled her away, out of her control.
And then everything went black.
Atop the submarine, several of the men dressed in the same clothes as the ones that had encountered Ben and Tess suddenly zoomed out of the hatch on their scooters. They were ready and attentive, looking eager for whatever job awaited them.
"Our target is Dolce Island," commanded one, presumably the leader of the squad. "Commence attack now!" The men prepared to fly off.
"All right, Pinchers," the squad leader declared. "Let's move! Dolce Island is uninhabited. We can do whatever we want, and no one's there to see!" Without further ado, the Pincher led the others away to Dolce Island.
The Pokemon of Dolce Island sat peacefully as they enjoyed some music. A Pichu with a ukulele was playing a few tunes, with a jolt of electricity going through the strings every now and then. The peaceful scene was suddenly interrupted as the Pinchers broke into the scene. The Pichu and the rest of the Pokemon scattered, leaving the last Pichu with the ukulele. In its panic the Pichu ran and hid in a bush nearby.
All around Dolce Island the Pinchers were stealing Pokemon. Sinister purple waves came from the devices on their wrists, and with each wave administered Pokemon began to disappear into their clutches.
One of the grunts let out a sigh of happiness. "Still," he said to himself, "It's amazing that in such a short time we were able to pinch so many Pokemon! These Control Gauntlets that the higher-ups gave us are the best!" He shook himself out of his thoughts and gave orders to his team. "Z.Z. Flyer Squad! We've got enough for now. Retreat!"
The Pinchers all flew away, taking with them most of Dolce Island's Pokemon. All except for one.
The Pichu with the ukulele.
Tess was dreaming.
At first it was just recollections of Professor Hastings. Hastings had sent her on a mission to Oblivia in order to stop a group called the Pokemon Pinchers.
"The Pokemon Pinchers," Hastings explained, "are a nefarious group of thieves who steal Pokemon. Up until recently they worked as small, independent groups. Now they seem to be forming an alliance. I want you to investigate and see if you can discover their motives and stop them."
Of course, he neglected to mention anything about Ben coming, Tess thought as she dreamed. I wonder what compelled him to send him here? Oh well. What's done is done, and now...
All of a sudden the scene changed. Tess was no longer dreaming about the Ranger Union back in Almia. Now, she found herself in a hazy gray world that she was completely unfamiliar with.
"Um...hello?" Tess called out cautiously, not knowing what to expect. There was no reply. The dreary dream world that surrounded her was empty.
"This is just a dream," Tess said aloud, making up for the silence around her. "It's just a dream, so what do I have to be afraid of?" She started to walk, wondering why the chilling, swirly fog almost seemed real.
Suddenly a shadow appeared in the gloom. It was the silhouette of a figure - whether it was human or Pokemon, Tess couldn't tell. It seemed to be speaking faintly, and as Tess came closer she could barely make out the words.
"Hero...Oblivia...Legend..."
"What?" Tess asked in confusion. Before she could say anything else, though, the figure began to disappear.
"Wait!" Tess yelped, scrambling after it, but it was too late. The figure was gone, and Tess was left alone.
To be continued...