Fenrir; People reviewed!! They actually liked it!

Solana; peers at the reviews you only got two…

Fenrir; who cares, they reviewed! Hey- why are you here and where's Laine?

Solana; love you too. Laine unconscious- in case you don't remember what happened.

Fenrir; well in that case… Solana, would you do the disclaimer?

Solana; since you would do something to me like what you did to Laine: fenrir-ice-wolf does not own any aspect of the game pokemon/pokemon ranger. She only owns the plot idea and not much else.

I'm back again- with a shorter authors note! So to keep it to the point; I am in dire need of a beta for this story, cos' my spelling is quite frankly, atrocious. So if you want to help out, just click the little purple review button and tell me so

Hikari of the moon- thank you so much for being my first reviewer! I know it was a little long, but I have a bad habit of doing at least one rambling author note in my many-chapter stories. So hope you enjoy this chapter too

Warning; this story contains shounen-ai (guy/guy). If you don't like this stuff then that's fine, but please don't flame. And if you do then please do me the courtesy of signing in so I know who hates me.

"blah"- speaking

'blah' thoughts

Ranger Thoughts

Chapter Two


Solana was busy crying into Murphs shoulder when Spencer walked in through the doors of the Ranger Base, soaked to the skin from all the rain. Everyone was suddenly crowding round him, jostling to get in-front and ask about their friend. Pushing his way through the sudden crowd, he walked over to Solana who looked at him with wide, fearful eyes. "Is he…?" she asked, her quiet voice silencing the other Rangers far more effectively than a shout would. Spencer closed his eyes and ran his hand through his damp hair. "I sent him to fall city. There's the Central Hospital there- he'll be in good hands. But right now Solana I need to know what happened. Try and remember everything- it's very important that you do." Solana folded her hands in her lap, cast her eyes to the floor and began to recall the events of the past two hours.
"Hey Solana! Wait up! Geez- you could have told me that you were going to go ahead. It's too warm to be running around, and…hey are you even listening to me??" Laine watched as Solana opened one eye and took her fingers out of her ears. "Finished ranting now?" she asked, raising an elegantly shaped eyebrow. Laine muttered something under his breath about women and something that Solana couldn't quite catch, but he did stay relatively quiet after that. Plusle and Minun ran up ahead to see if they could see anything, before they became tired and took up their favourite perches on their partners shoulders. They walked briskly, and mostly silently, through the forest, keeping in mind the ominous storm clouds that were slowly filling up the sky. Laine frowned as a sudden thought hit him. "What's wrong Laine? You look like you just swallowed a lemon" Solana teased. Laine opened his mouth to reply, but never got a chance to. With the loudest rumble of thunder either of them had ever, the heavens opened and it began to pour down. They both began to run towards the cliff that was looming in-front of them and it was only when they reached it and the tiny bit of shelter it gave them that Laine turned to Solana again. "Hey Ana, don't you think it's odd? I mean.." whatever he was saying was drowned out by another clap of thunder, only this one was accompanied by a jagged tongue of lightning that lit the sky an eerie electric blue for a second, before fading away. Blinking, in order to stop the spots that obscured their vision after that bright light, the glanced up to see the bulky form of the Hariyama lumbering towards them. "Solana- stay behind me." Laines face was twisted into an expression of grim determination. "Solana was about to voice her indigence, when she caught sight of the Hariyamas eyes. She gasped softly at the amount of rage in there. The pokemon began to move towards them, breaking into shambling run that turned it from an exceptionally large pokemon into an un-stoppable juggernaut. It lumbered towards Laine who whipped out his capture Styler, and activated it. However the creature was moving too fast and he jumped to the side as the Hariyama ploughed past him. As he did so, the capture disk went spinning off wildly to the side. The creature lumbered to a stop before turning round, and started towards Laine again. Solana was only able to scream "LOOK OUT LAINE!" before the monster was in front of him again…
" …And then he pushed me out the way but the Hariyama got him and now he might die and it's all my fault!" Solana wailed before breaking into fresh sobs and launching herself at Spencer. The Ringtown ranger leader patted her awkwardly on the shoulder as she cried into his chest, soaking his uniform even more. Two other female rangers gently prised her off their leader before whisking her away upstairs to calm her down.

Spencer searched out his second in command, a ranger named Lunik, and told him that he would be in charge while Spencer stayed in Fall City to keep an eye on Laine. Lunik raised an eyebrow but didn't comment so Spencer left to gather a few things and make up an excuse to feed to Joel, who would defiantly be asking questions about why he was so distraught over this. Spencer knew Joel wasn't stupid and would soon enough piece two and two together. He had taken to pacing up and down in front of the Ranger Base, since the atmosphere inside was so oppressive, by the time the Dragonite Rider arrived back in Ringtown to pick him up. Spencer rushed back into the building and hammered the 'up' button to the elevator 'hurry up dammit' he thought frantically. Finally the door opened and he was able to move to the next floor. The doors slid open with a smug swish and he ran over to the Dragonite Rider. "What happened? What did the doctors say? You did get him there right?" the dragonite trainer looked exhausted but he nodded and answered Spencers questions. " when we got there the hospital staff took him away immediately. They said that they would discuss his condition with you tomorrow when you arrive and yes we did get there." Spencer breathed a sigh of relief. "Dragonite is all ready to go, so you go on and fly over to Fall City. I'm gonna rest here and come round to the base in fall city sometime around noon. Tell me how he is then- ok? And give the rest of them a call- none of the base is gonna get any sleep tonight." Spencer nodded weakly, before the Dragonite grabbed him and took off through the large window that had been put there specifically for the Dragonite Bus. As they flew over Lyra Forest, he began to think about what Solana had said. That wasn't normal behaviour for a Hariyama. And what had Laine been trying to say to Solana? He would find out when he got to Fall City- and that was a promise.

Dragonite shook him out of his thoughts as they flew over the houses and started their descent towards the Ranger Base, where Spencer could see a solitary figure waiting patiently outside. As the dragon Pokemon landed, Joel was already walking towards them, ready to find out what the hell was going on. His confusion quickly turned to concern for his friend when he stumbled out of the vice-like grip. Joel gripped the other mans shoulders to steady him and got his first god look at his old rival. To put it bluntly he looked like shit. He was pale, and shivering from the damp clothes he wore, and he looked like he was about to collapse. Putting any questions he could think of on hold, Joel helped Spencer into the Ranger Base and towards dormitories where they put up any visiting Rangers who were staying the night. Spencer collapsed onto the bed and mumbled a thanks to Joel. Joel smiled slightly and turned around to walk out of the room but stopped short at the door and looked down at his hand. It was stained a faint reddish colour from where he had , had his hand on Spencers shoulder. His frown deepened as he realised it to be blood. It wasn't fresh and had been there for a while- the last twenty-four hours at least- and turned to study the sleeping Ranger Leader. Spencer sure had a lot of explaining to do in the morning.


Spencer groaned as the morning sunlight hit his eyes. He rolled over, and remembered the bad dream that he had had the previous night- Laine had been nearly killed by a rogue Hariyama, he had travelled to Fall City, and stayed the night at the Ranger Base there. Burying his head under the pillow, he vaguely wondered why he was still wearing his Ranger uniform. Suddenly his eyes shot open as a deep chuckle reverberated round the room. "still as lazy as ever I see Spencer." Joel said, a slime playing on his lips as he stood in the doorway. Spencer shot into a sitting position, and realised that it had not all been a dream after all. That would mean that Laine was now in the hospital, maybe fighting for his life. Rubbing his hand across his eyes in a effort to clear his head he looked round the walls in a search for a clock. Joel, seeing this, said in a low voice "it's a little after nine. You missed me coming in with breakfast but we do have coffee." Joels eyes flicked over his friend and he went on to add "and a clean uniform". Spencer, needless to say accepted both offers gratefully. Twenty minutes later, and feeling a hell of a lot better now he had some coffee, Spencer found himself sitting on a couch opposite Joel and Aria. Joel looked at him, a serious expression on his face and Spencer felt himself shrivel up inside at having to tell his story again. He suddenly needed more caffeine.

After going through the story again, Aria was on the verge of tears and Joel had gone very quiet. "Joel, I need to visit him. Can you show me where the hospital is?" the blonde Ranger looked up at the man sitting opposite him and saw the desperation in his eyes. Nodding, he silently got up, followed by Spencer, and they both left. That same, oppressive silence hung over them both as they moved through the busy streets of the largest town in the Fiore Region. Spencer noticed a black-haired woman following them for a bit, but she seemed to back off when she noticed where they were headed. After they arrived, Spencer took a seat on one of the orange plastic chairs while Joel went to talk to the receptionist. All he could hear was the low murmur of voices before Joel was back in front of him. "come on- he's on the second floor. Room 257." Spencer practically jumped out of his seat and dragged the other man over to the elevators. 'why is he so worked up over this?' Joel wondered to himself as he watched Spencer fidget while waiting for the lift. 'there's something here that I'm not quite getting. What is it?' the lift finally arrived and the two men waited for everyone else to get out before getting inside. To Spencer, the lift seemed to go too slowly, while Joel thought is was too quick. The both moved down the halls of the second floor looking for that one door.

"Room 249…251…253…255…AHA! Room 257' "Spencer its over here"

Spencer hurried over, grasped the doorknob and pushed.

Spencers jaw clenched, and behind him he could hear Joel whisper "Oh my god." Laine was lying on the hospital bed, unmoving and his skin the same colour as the sheets. Various tubes and wires were hooked up to his body and there was an oxygen mask secured over his mouth and nose. The shallow rising and falling of his chest was the only indication that he was alive. That and the beeping of the heart monitor next to the bed. Spencer felt like he wasn't able to control his body and he moved mechanically over to the bed and sank down into the chair that was there. "this is all my fault" he whispered. "if I hadn't have given him this mission then it would never have happened. He would be out on patrol right now, and we wouldn't be here."

"Spencer. This isn't your fault" Joels stern voice cut through Spencers mumblings. Spencer ran his fingers through his hair again, before reaching out and grasping Laines hand. Joel, who had been all but forgotten, backed slowly out of the room and went to find a doctor. He had an idea of why Spencer was so worried, but all he needed was some proof.

Heh- its kind of short but its all I've been able to write this week cos i've had all my worst exams. But never fear- by Monday they will be over and I will hopefully be able to update more often. I hope I gat the personalities right because its kind of difficult to gat Spencer and Joel's personalities right, and defiantly Laine cos he doesn't have. I'm not gonna post another chapter till I get five reviews.

Solana; that's only three more. Ja ne!