Hi. My name is Lunick Kazuki, and I'm a professional failure.
Well, no, I'm not professional, but I might as well be. Everyone else seems to think so, at least. Every time I go out on a mission with my leader, Spenser, I can see it in his eyes—I'm not good enough. I don't spin the styler the right way. I'm not making the right connection with the target pokémon. But that was a long time ago. He hasn't taken me out on a field mission in months. He's given up on me.
At least I have Murph. We grew up together, joined the rangers together, and failed spectacularly together. He at least got a partner pokémon. He spent so much time playing the capture game just outside of town that he befriended a rare slowpoke. I've tried, but no Pokémon really sees eye-to-eye with me. Still, Murph is hardly an avid ranger. He's incredibly sluggish, much like his partner. We always joke that slowpoke is the faster of the two, but to be honest that is a sharp little Pokémon. Next to Murph, I seem at least adequate.
It had been three years since I joined the rangers when the letters began to arrive. A girl from a faraway land dreamed of becoming a ranger, and she expressed her love of pokémon through seven letters. Spenser let me read them—he probably thought I might get some ideas from them—and let me tell you, she seemed like the perfect prospect for a ranger. Her letters painted her as a flawless, Pokémon-loving angel. That's why I was so worried the day she was set to arrive. With her in the picture I would fade out of Spenser's view for good.
When I saw Spenser's fearow descending outside the ranger base with the new girl onboard I knew I was about to be replaced. Still, I rushed outside with Murph to meet her. I knew she was from some faraway place, but I never expected anything like her. She was tall, and filled out the ranger uniform well. She pulled her silvery-blue hair back in a high ponytail with wisps of it sticking out here and there. But most striking about her was her eyes. They were a bright, burning red that made me think she already knew everything about me. I was so stunned by her eyes that I barely noticed a plusle dash off into the woods.
"Oh, Lunick! You scared it off!" Spenser scolded.
"W-what?" I stuttered, still stunned by the girl's eyes and confused about why there was a plusle way out in the hicksville that is Ringtown.
"Ah, nevermind. It's probably just scared of the new environment. It'll come back later and we can return it to its natural habitat," Spenser sighed. "Solana, this is Murph and Lunick. They're rookie rangers too."
Rookie rangers. I'd been there, training, for three years! Most rangers are considered competent after a few months. This girl just got there, and I'm on her level. He thinks that little of me. This can't possibly get worse.
"Sorry we're late. There was a bit of a situation in Fall City. I gave Solana her styler and she pulled off her first capture impressively. I got to see her potential as a ranger first-hand. She's off to great start."
And she's already on his good side. She hasn't been here a day, and she's 'off to a great start'. Now it can't get any worse.
"In fact I thought she did so well that I canceled her certification test and certified her as a ranger on the spot!"
Smack! Rock bottom. And the whole time Spenser was talking, he had a smile on his face. He was so proud of this new ranger that nothing else mattered. Especially not me.
As Spenser led us back inside the ranger base, Murph showed Solana the applications on the styler and I trudged in behind them. Murph and Solana seemed to be really hitting it off, leaving me behind again. In retrospect, it was nice that Murph was being his regular cheerful self and Solana was feeling comfortable in her new home—I was just feeling particularly down. We all stood at attention and Spenser welcomed Solana as a member of the Ringtown base. He made several quips about how she had a mountain of tasks to overcome and how she looked determined to do it. He said that skill level aside, she's a real ranger in spirit—right in front of Murph and me. This kind of behavior happened so frequently that we both just accepted it as a fact of life. He never seemed to mind hearing others praised in front of him, but I did. Spenser never said anything so grandiose to me—not even when I was first starting and he didn't hate me.
To top off the speech, the three of us did our little ranger poses. Solana swished her styler antenna through the air, Murph threw his up, spun around and caught it. (He would later recount the action as "the most coordinated thing he'd ever done.") And me? I tried to take my styler out of my holster and dropped it on the ground. In an attempt to make up for it, I picked it up, held it over my head and softly moaned, "Ta-da!"
And then, to my surprise, Solana laughed. It wasn't surprising that she laughed—it was supposed to be funny. But I was more taken aback that she had noticed me at all. I smiled back, happier than I had felt for a while. But that feeling disappeared when I glanced over to Spenser and saw his glare of disapproval.
"Trouble! There's trouble! It's a crisis! Help, help, help!" We turned to the door and saw Larry, a Ringtown resident, running in. I stifled the urge to roll my eyes. There was never any trouble in Ringtown. And hearing this coming from Larry, I knew that there was absolutely nothing to worry about.
Larry shoved Murph and me out of the way and ran right up to Spenser, babbling about how his Pokémon had run off into Lyra forest again. He pushed us so hard that I had to prevent myself from falling right on top of Solana—so instead I fell on the ground.
"Are you alright?" Solana asked, helping me up.
"Yeah, it's just Larry being Larry," I muttered. "His pokémon always runs away. I can only wonder why." Solana softly giggled again.
"This sounds like a perfect mission for Solana," Spenser said, turning to us. "Enter Lyra forest and capture Larry's escaped Pokémon. That's your first mission."
"Whoa, whoa, what?" Larry exclaimed. "Leader, you've got to be joking! Are you sure it's going to be okay asking this rookie to handle this mission?"
"There's nothing to be worried about. Solana is very talented," Spenser replied. He turned to Solana. "The Lyra forest is just outside Ringtown. I'll meet you there." He brushed past us and walked out the door. Once in Spenser's absence, Larry turned to Solana with a sneer.
"Well, isn't this just dandy," Larry scoffed. "I asked the leader because he's the most trustworthy ranger here. But look at this rookie. A less trustworthy face I've yet to see." And as he turned his back and walked out the door, he muttered, "Don't screw this up, girl."
Once Larry was gone, there was a beat of silence. I could feel Solana's uncertainty, so I spoke up.
"Don't let him get to you," I said cheerfully. "He can say some rotten things, but he never really means it. It's just Larry being Larry."
"Yeah! This will be easy for a great ranger like you!" Murph chimed in. "I can't count how many times I've had to go into the forest after his Pokémon." Solana looked at the both of us and smiled.
"Thanks, guys," she said. She started to walk out the door, so I wished her luck.
Oddly, I felt good. I thought I wasn't going to like this girl—I knew she was going to replace me. But when I met her, I realized that she's very nice, almost a little shy. Maybe it was because it had been so long since I had received kindness from someone other than Murph, but I had genuine hope that there was potential for a friendship. I was so happy that I couldn't help but run after her to see her first mission.
By the time I got there, Spenser was already briefing Solana on the mission. I stayed back with Larry and watched as Spenser went with Solana to look for the Pokémon. She collected a couple of wild Pokémon and took them back to Larry, who immediately scolded her for not catching the right one. She looked to me, using her eyes to plead for help. Just then I saw something out of the corner of my eye. A taillow was fluttering around in a bush—Larry's taillow. I gestured to it with a shake of the head, and she immediately went at it. She captured it without a problem and brought it back to Larry. He congratulated Solana on a job well done and left, fawning over his pokémon. Just a standard, run-of-the-mill chore.
"Congratulations, Solana. You've completed your first mission! You have now joined the ranks of Pokémon rangers in name and in deed," Spenser said to Solana. As he continued to praise her on a job well done, I let my eyes wander and noticed an orange flicker from within the forest, accompanied by black clouds.
"Leader!" I cried, pointing to the trees. He looked over and saw the rapidly spreading fire.
"You two! Come with me!" he shouted, motioning for the two of us to follow him. We ran off into the forest to find a pair of trees burning. Leaves crackled and hissed as they curled up and turned to ash. Branches fell, Pokémon skittered away in a panic, and I could feel the heat from the flames from several yards away. The trees were isolated and unlikely to spread into a full-blown forest fire, but Spenser decided it would be wise to extinguish them anyway, anr to show Solana how to use a Pokémon's power in the field. Spenser sent me off to find a water Pokémon while he explained to Solana about what a target clear was and something about styler hardware mechanics. Lyra forest is known for its small, peaceful pokémon, so all I could find was a couple of docile mudkips to fight the fire. When Spenser saw my two tiny Pokémon, he rolled his eyes and sighed before showing Solana what to do. He paid no attention to me as he extinguished the fires and released the Pokémon back into the wild.
When the danger was gone, we returned to town. Spenser was silent and walked ahead, but Solana hung back to talk with me.
"Hey, thanks for the help back there," she said in a hushed voice so Spenser wouldn't hear.
"No problem," I replied.
"I watched you capture those Pokémon. You're really good."
I blushed. "T-thanks."
"Solana, Lunick," Spenser said, turning around to look at us. How about you two patrol around town until a new mission shows up? It's been a bit slow lately, so I'm sure you two can handle it."
"Yes, sir!" we both replied in unison. He nodded and sauntered back to the ranger base. Solana and I went off in the other direction. Once we were out of his earshot, Solana spoke up again.
"He doesn't like you very much, does he?" she asked.
"Is it that obvious?" I said with a chuckle.
"But why?"
"I guess I'm just not good enough for him. I try so hard, but he never gives me a chance to prove myself."
"That's too bad. I'm sure you'd be an awesome ranger is he ever gave you the chance." She swayed gently, bumping her shoulder against mine. I blushed again. I knew she was fated to be my replacement, but I really did enjoy her company.
We were both quiet for a bit, enjoying the peace and quiet. Ringtown was a place that practically emanated innocence. The people were happy and naïve, the Pokémon small and harmless. It was everything a ranger nation was supposed to stand for—peace and equality, upheld by the rangers. I could tell Solana was trying to take it all in. While there wasn't much to my hometown, she seemed fascinated with every last detail. I noticed some of the residents peering at us. Glancing at Solana and her striking appearance, I noticed how much she stood out here.
"So, um," I mumbled, starting the conversation again. "Where did you say you were from?"
"It's a place called Johto."
"Never heard of it."
"It's very different from here. There are no rangers, just trainers who-" but she was cut off by a sharp Pokémon cry coming from the center of town. We rushed there to find Larry's maniac taillow and the plusle from before, battling violently. Larry was there, hysterically trying to calm them down. Not only was he failing at that, his screeching seemed to be making it worse.
"Come on!" I cried, running at the fight.
"That taillow sure is temperamental," Solana said through her teeth.
"Yeah, well, they deserve each other," I quipped. The taillow was extremely agitated and was beating the plusle mercilessly and seemingly without provocation. "Solana! Calm down the plusle. I'll take care of taillow." But before I could finish my sentence, plusle let loose a blast of electricity that stunned taillow into paralysis. It made my job a lot easier to do, and Solana had no problem taking care of the plusle.
Once the uproar had died down, Larry rushed up to me and grabbed his taillow, babbling about how I hurt it and how I was a bad ranger. I had learned to ignore Larry years before, so I glanced at Solana to see how she was doing. The plusle had calmed down and had jumped into her arms, cuddling her affectionately. It was too cute to not smile. Just then, Spenser came running at us out of the ranger base.
"What happened?" he shouted.
"I'll tell you what happened!" Larry exclaimed. "That plusle was picking on my darling taillow, so it stood up for itself. And then this boy allowed it to shock my poor baby until it couldn't move."
"Lunick? I didn't think you knew how to use poké assists," Spencer said, looking at me. Of course I knew how to use poké assists. It was one of the first things he had taught me. He couldn't even remember that.
"I'm sorry, leader!" Solana said, jumping to her feet with the plusle still in her arms. "I was in charge of capturing the plusle and couldn't stop it in time. It's my fault." But Spenser didn't seem angry in the least.
"Is this the plusle from Fall City?" he asked. Solana nodded. "I can tell it's taken a liking to you. You don't have a partner pokémon yet, do you?"
Oh no I thought. He wouldn't. Not yet.
"I think this plusle would make a perfect partner for you, Solana," he said, to my dismay.
"You think so?" she asked, looking at the cheerful pokémon in her arms.
"I guarantee it!" Spencer assured. Solana was ecstatic. She hugged the plusle, smiled at Spenser, and grinned at me. I forced a smile in return. I had been there for three years and had yet to get a partner pokémon approved. She got hers on the first day.
You know that 'rock bottom' thing I was talking about a while ago? I don't believe it exists anymore.
