Hello, people! We're finally back with the first chapter of Guardian Signs!
Read, review, and enjoy!
The world was in a blur. It felt like I was just watching things happen instead of actually living through it. My mind was too focused on Keith to care about anything else. I left him all alone with that jerk! Why did I do that? What was I thinking? Actually, I probably wasn't thinking. There wasn't time to think! Keith was in danger! But now he could be in even more… what was I going to do?
The next thing I actually remembered was waking up on a beach. My hair and clothes were soaked from falling into the ocean. The sky was dark. It had been at least a few hours since the incident with Red Eyes. I prayed it hadn't been more. I needed to find Keith before it was too late to help him. I really hoped it wasn't already too late.
It was very hard to move. Everything still hurt from when Red Eyes attacked us. Luckily nothing seemed to be broken. I started to walk around groggily. I hated being alone. I really missed Keith. Without really thinking about it, my hand reached up to fiddle with my necklace. Keith gave it to me. At least I didn't lose everything.
I wandered around the beach for what felt like hours. Other than a few palm trees, the beach was completely empty. There weren't even any Pokemon around. Where was I?
I glanced at my styler, which was slightly looser than usual. I kind of wondered why, but I didn't really care. According to the map, I was at some place called Dolce Island in the Oblivia Region. However, the map seemed to be the only thing that was working on my styler. I couldn't even try to call Keith, or the Union. Maybe it was damaged by the sea water? Or the impact from the fall? I hoped it wouldn't effect my captures. I didn't know when I would be able to get it fixed.
I found a dirt path on the north side of the beach. As I walked down it, I couldn't stop thinking about Keith. Was he going to be alright? Did he escape Red Eyes? Did they send him hurtling into the ocean, too? Or did they take him prisoner? I didn't know which was worse.
The trees thickened as I walked down the path. There were still no Pokemon or people around. It was really freaky.
Suddenly, something cried out from somewhere behind me. I whirled around to find a small yellow Pokemon standing in the middle of the clearing. A Pichu! It had a little blue ukulele on it's back. It was so cute! But... why was it glaring at me? What did I do?
"Hi there, little guy!" I said. "What's wrong?"
Well that obviously didn't help! The small Pokemon sent a blast of electricity my way, which somehow didn't seem to damage the ukulele. I barely managed to dodge.
"Hey!" I exclaimed. "Knock it off!" The Pichu growled at me. I sighed, and readied my styler. I really hoped it would work. Something was definitely wrong with it. I guessed the fall and the sea water damaged it.
Luckily, the styler actually worked. I managed to capture the Pichu. However, there was one problem. Power Charge wasn't working. Which was a slight problem. I needed to get this thing fixed. I really hated technology sometimes…
The Pichu smiled at me, and pulled out it's ukulele. He let out little bursts of electricity, and the ukulele made a twanging sound with each bolt. It was as though the Pichu was playing the ukulele! I smiled. This was adorable! I couldn't wait to show… Keith. He would've loved this… I missed him so much… what was going to happen to him? Would he be alright? I was so worried…
The Pichu seemed to notice my sudden change in attitude. It walked over to me, and tugged on my sock, then continued to play his ukulele. I patted his head, and forced a smile. The Pichu seemed satisfied, and leapt for joy.
"Uke! You're okay!"
What? Another person!
I turned to see a man running down the path. He had white hair, and wore a pink shirt with a blue vest. He actually kinda looked like Mr. Woodward from Vientown. He ran straight past me, and over to the Pichu. He then looked around.
"Hm? Where are all your other Pichu friends?" he asked. The Pichu let out a sad cry. Oh no… what happened here? "So you don't know, huh?" the man sighed. "Who were those folks that showed up on UFO-lookin' things, anyway?" UFOs? Was he talking about the Pinchers? Maybe I could get them to tell me where Keith is! I have to find them!
"Um, excuse me!" I said. The man looked up at me. "But what do you mean by UFOs?"
"Oh!" the man exclaimed. "Who might you be?"
Ugh, that really wasn't important right now. I didn't need to talk to people, I needed to find the Pinchers! People were not what I needed. I needed Keith. And the Pinchers should know how to get to him. But, I didn't want to be rude, so I said, "My name is Sparkette. And thi- and I'm a Pokemon Ranger. I just washed up on this island."
I smiled as the Pichu ran over to me and hugged my leg. It was really adorable! This Pichu was so cute!
The man laughed. "It looks like Uke's taken a shine to ya! My name is Booker. I live on Renbow Island. Do you mind explaining what you mean by washed up?"
I stared at the ground. "Can we not go into that?" I mumbled. I was not ready to talk about it yet. My mind had left me with several worst case scenarios, all of which just made me more worried. Keith was my best friend. And I couldn't live without him.
Booker walked over to me. "You look like you've been through a lot," he said. "How about coming to spend the night at my place?"
"No!" I shouted. Booker shrunk back from me a bit. "I have to keep moving. I don't have time to stop!"
"Well then, have fun getting to Renbow Island on your own!" Booker said. He started to walk toward the bridge. I sighed. Renbow Island is where we wanted to go in the first place. I had to go for Keith.
"Wait," I said. "I'll come with you. I may not be able to stay for too long, though."
Booker smiled. "Very well. I have a boat ready over here. Let's go Sparkette." I nodded, and Booker and I walked toward the beach.
"Welcome to Renbow Island, Sparkette!" Booker said cheerfully, as the boat pulled into the dock. Finally! It took way too long to reach this stupid island. Booker actually lost his first boat. He forgot to tie it to the dock. That sounded like something Keith would do… I really missed him. I had to find him before it was too late.
I think getting the spare boat took a lot longer than the actual trip. Renbow Island and Dolce Island were connected by a narrow straight. I was glad it wasn't that far. I didn't know how much more of this stupidity I could deal with.
Uke also delayed us a little bit. He decided that he wanted to come with us. I don't know why. But I really didn't care. His ukulele playing helped lighten my spirits.
Booker helped me off the boat, and I carried Uke off. He was really adorable, and he kinda reminded me of Pachirisu. I missed her as well; she'd stayed with my sister. Ugh, I had to stop thinking about these things!
"My house is this way," Booker said. "Let's stop there for a while."
"Do we have to?" I asked. "I really need to keep moving. There is something very important I need to do."
"More important than sleep?" Booker said. I nodded. Keith was more important than anything. "What about dinner, then? You look like you haven't eaten in a while."
I shook my head, saying, "I'm not hungry." Then my stomach grumbled. Very loudly. "Okay, maybe I'm a little bit hungry…"
Booker laughed. "Come on," he said. "My house isn't too far from here."
I sighed. I really was not going to get out of this, was I? I nodded, and Booker lead me down the path. Uke decided to come with us. At least he actually got a choice.
On the way to Booker's house, a few kids ran up to us. Two boys, one with blue hair and one with brown, and a girl with reddish hair.
"Welcome back, Booker!" the blue haired boy exclaimed, grinning like an idiot.
"Oh, hello, Ralph," Booker said. "You're looking nice and dirty. Full of energy as usual, I see."
The boy laughed. "Aw, Booker! You're embarrassing me! That's a weird compliment, by the way." The boy's eyes then flickered to me. "Huh?" he said. "Who are you?"
"My name is Sparkette," I said. "I'm a Pokemon Ranger from the Almia region."
The three kids ran up to me. "That's so cool!" the other boy exclaimed. "But why is you're uniform different?"
"I guess it's because I'm a Top Ranger," I replied. "This is actually a pretty new uniform, so I don't know why it's different."
"Is that why your styler is different, too?" the girl said. I nodded.
"Her uniform may be a bit off, but there is no doubt in my mind that Sparkette is a Pokemon Ranger," Booker said. "I even saw her do the whirly thingy with my own eyes!" Wait, when?
The blue haired boy stared at me, his eyes sparkling. "You mean a capture? That's so cool! I wish I got to see it…"
"Maybe I could show you sometime," I said.
The boy smiled. "That would be awesome! My name is Ralph, by the way."
"I'm Frank," said the other boy, waving at me.
"And I'm Tina!" the girl finished. "Hey, what is Uke doing here? He doesn't come to Renbow Island that much."
"That's not important, Tina!" Ralph exclaimed. "Let's go tell everyone a Ranger has arrived!" The other two kids nodded, and the three of them ran back into town.
Booker turned to me. "Ralph is a very reliable boy," he said. "If you ever need help with something, you should ask him. Anyway, let's keep moving."
I nodded, and Booker lead me across the beach to a cabin. I assumed this was his house. We walked inside to find a boy with green hair waiting for us.
"Boss!" he exclaimed, running over to Booker. "Welcome home!" That's when he noticed me. Why was I always the last person to be noticed?
"Who's she?" he asked. "Oh no… could it be? Disillusioned with being a Ranger, she's come to ask to be your new apprentice! Then, moved by these words, you decided to take her in? If that's the case, I'm no longer needed, so it's pack your bags and hit the road, right? Boss! How could you do that to me?"
"Sparkette didn't do any of that!" Booker exclaimed. "If you don't have anything better to do than dream up lame stories, why don't you hurry and get our guest something to eat!" I really didn't need this. What I needed was to go look for Keith. But unfortunately, it looked like that wasn't going to happen tonight.
The green haired boy sighed, and ran into another room. Booker sat down at a long rectangular table. "Have a seat, Sparkette," he said. I nodded, and sat down across from him.
"So, who is that boy?" I asked, after a slightly awkward silence.
"That is Nick, my apprentice," Booker replied. "He has a wild imagination, and is always worrying about the most foolish things. Because of that, work gets interrupted all the time."
There was another silence. "I've been wondering, what brings you to Oblivia, Sparkette?" Booker asked. "And why were your clothes soaking wet when we first met?"
"I don't really want to talk about it," I said, staring blankly at the table. I honestly didn't think I was ready to talk about it. Nick then joined us, and brought with him a tray full of sandwiches. He then sat down on the other side of Booker.
"Please tell us," Booker said. "We're curious."
I sighed. Booker was really persistent! So I reluctantly explained what happened that day, or at least I hoped it was that day. The meeting with Professor Hastings, Keith and I racing to the Oblivia Region, rescuing Latias, and everything that happened with Red Eyes. I still couldn't believe that last one happened. I was separated from Keith. And now I might never see him again.
Almost all the food was gone by the time I finished my story. I was staring into my empty cup. I couldn't stop thinking about Keith. What was going to happen to him?
"I'm sorry about your friend..." Booker said, sympathetically.
"So you don't know what happened to him?" Nick clarified. I nodded slowly. "Oh no!" Nick exclaimed. "What if the bad guys captured him? They've probably got him tied up in some cell, or what if they-"
"Shut up!" I shouted, leaping up from my seat and sending my empty cup to the ground. Both Nick and Booker stared at me in shock. "I'm already worried enough! I don't need your silly daymares!" Tears sprang to my eyes. What if Nick was right? Keith could've be tied up in some cell, while I was here, safe and protected.
"S-sorry," Nick stuttered. "I didn't mean to worry you..." Okay, that made me feel bad.
"It's fine," I assured, forcing a smile. I slowly sat back down. "I'm sure Keith will be fine."
I was encouraging myself more than Nick. Keith was the idiot who always threw himself into danger. I needed to find him before he did something really stupid. Knowing Keith, though, it might have already been too late.
"Hey, where's Uke?" Booker said, effectively changing the subject. I looked around. The little electric Pokemon wasn't anywhere in sight. I wondered where he went...
"That's strange..." I said. "I thought he was right behind me."
"Well, I wouldn't worry about him too much," Booker said. "You should get some sleep, Sparkette. You've had a long day. Nick can show you to the spare room."
"Okay," I said quietly. "Goodnight."
I'll try to update asap. I'm officially writing three different stories right now, and this one isn't too high on the priority list. Sorry