Chapter 1: The Rising Ranger Star

Elita, Wintown Ranger Rank 8, strode quickly from the Ranger Base towards the edge of town. Her leader, Steven, had just assigned her a mission to investigate some strange sounds originating from Panula Cave. With Skarmory at her side, Elita confidently walked out of Wintown, paying little mind to the strange man dressed all in purple by the town entrance. It was a quick trek to Panula Cave. Once she had set foot within the icy cavern, the strange sounds reported quickly became apparent. It was a sort of eerie echoing wail.

'It almost sounds like crying' Elita thought.

Elita quickly headed further into the cave towards the source of the noise. It didn't take her long to locate it. Not too deep into the cave in one of the few areas where there was running water, Elita found a small girl, crying loudly. She looked no older than 5 years old and Elita found herself wondering what a young child was doing her all alone. Her lavender hair was put up into pigtails, held in place by pink bubble ties. There was also a huge pink ribbon on the back of her head. Her dress was the same shade of pink and very poufy. Elita knelt down besides the girl, who stopped her bawling to look up at the Ranger with puffy blue eyes.

"What's your name, sweetie?" Elita asked her calmly.

The young girl sniffled. "Raum"

'Weird name.' Elita thought. 'Who names a little girl Raum?'

Nevertheless, Elita smiled and extended her hand out to the girl. "Let's get you out of this cave, Raum."

Raum shook her head 'no'. "No! Not without Growlithe!"

Elita frowned. "Growlithe?"

Raum nodded and paused, like she was trying to figure out what to say.

'Or what not to say' Elita told herself.

Finally Raum said "Growlithe is my friend. We came into the cave together, but he got confused by some Jynx and ran off, scared. I tried to follow him, but he's so much faster than me…and I got lost."

Raum huffed indigently. "I'm not leaving without Growlithe!"

Elita sighed. 'Great, a picky kid'. "Okay, Raum. I'll go find your Growlithe for you. You just stay here and wait for me, okay?"

Raum nodded. With a slight sigh, Elita rode to her feet and headed back into the cave to locate the girl's lost Pokémon. She encountered quite a few Pokémon along the way, mostly capturing them to calm them and soon releasing them. She did, however, keep the Poliwhirl she caught: its water PokéAssist would be helpful when she did find the fire dog.

In the deepest part of the cave, Elita finally found the Growlithe. It was still confused, running around in circles chasing nothing. When it spotted Elita, it quickly charged at her. With Poliwhirl's help, the confused Growlithe was quickly captured and calmed. Wasting no time, Elita made her way back to where Raum was waiting with Growlithe.

"Growlithe!" Raum exclaimed as soon as she spotted her Pokémon. She rushed over to hug the fire dog, which licked Raum's face in return.

"Now, let's get out of this cave." Elita told them.

Raum nodded and followed Elita out of the cave, with Growlithe following faithfully behind her. Elita led the twosome back towards Wintown. As they approached the town's entrance, Elita noticed there was a man there. Dressed in all purple, quite an unusual shade too, the man was pacing back and forth on the path, mumbling to himself. Elita stopped and was about to ask if he needed any assistance when Raum pushed past her.

"Daddy!"

Raum practically threw herself at the man, who seemed to be quite relieved to see her.

'Her father, huh.' Elita thought. 'His clothing taste is as bad as his name taste. Whole family must be bonkers.'

"I'm sorry" Raum was telling her father, "Growlithe got lost and then I got lost too. But this pink-haired Ranger found me and got Growlithe back for me."

'Pink-haired ranger?' Elita groaned silently.

The man practically glared at her before giving a short curt nod. He pulled Raum to her feet and quickly dragged her off into town without a word.

'Antisocial much?' Elita thought. 'A simple "thank-you" would have been nice.'

As Elita headed back to the Ranger Base to report back to Steven, she wondered if she would ever have an encounter with that duo again. She silently hoped not.

Years later, she would find herself regretting helping the girl at all.