This story hasn't recieved much appreciation, but I am convinced to still publish more! I'm having a lot of fun writing this!

Days following, Luana and Kate said their goodbyes and made their way back to Vientown, home of the base they'd grown to love. It didn't take any time at all before the girls got back into schedule and were called by Barlow, their base leader.

"I'm sure you two heard the news about Netherfield base?" Barlow asked, receiving two nods from the rangers.

"Well, I felt that since they are new to Almia that we ought to give them a kind welcome! I've invited them and some other rangers for a formal dinner of sorts. It will be next week, and you two better wear something nice. I don't want to misrepresent this base by bringing my two rangers in their uniforms to a 'fancy' event. Got it?"

Kate and Luana nodded, quickly sharing awkward glances with each other then smiling back at their leader.

"Good. The dinner will be next week." Barlow said. "Now, as for today…."

Just moments following, Kate and Luana were rushing towards MarineCave.

"Hey, do you see anything strange Kate?"

"No," Kate replied. Looking around, there was nothing out of the ordinary. What had Barlow been blabbing off about?"

"Me neith- Kate watch out!"

Kate spun around, only seconds before a charging Zubat could attack her. Ducking, she could see the confused pokemon stop itself before charging into the cave wall.

"It looks like the Zubat's going to come back. Kate, you might have to befriend it!"

"Got it," Kate replied, reading her styler. Sure enough, the Zubat flung around, ready to charge again, but Kate was ready. With a simple twirl of her hands, the styler spun circles around the pokemon, and the Zubat calmed down. As Kate fixed her styler back on her wrist, she slowly began to approach the Zubat, who flew away from her right away.

"That's odd," Luana murmured. "You did the capture properly. Shouldn't the Zubat have been friended? If it was, it wouldn't have run away like that."

"Maybe that's what Barlow meant when he said that strange things were going on in this cave," Kate replied to her confused sister.

"Could be. Let's move on."

The two girls trekked further inside the cave, and before long found something odd not far from them.

Planted on the ground was a strange looking machine-a mailbox maybe? Near the top of it, a black disk spun wildly. As Kate focused on it, she found herself getting dizzy. Could this be what was causing the Pokemon pain?

"Luana, let's try to destroy this thing. I think it might have something to do with the confused pokemon." Kate stated.

"Alright. But how?" As Kate thought silently, Luana did so aloud. "Well, it's red. Fire types are red! Let's try to use a water type on the machine!"

As Kate chuckled softly at her sister's logic, the two went further in the cave on the search of a water type.

"There!" Luana called, pointing. Sure enough, there was a Gastrodon sliding in circles.

"He doesn't look like he's in pain," Kate noted. Luana nodded.

"Maybe he's too far from that machine," Luana guessed. Kate shrugged. Little else made sense, so she agreed with her sister. Taking only moments to complete the capture, Kate sensed that Luana was right. The Gastrodon didn't run off. Instead, it followed Kate dutifully.

As the girls walked back to the red machine, they noticed the surrounding pokemon walking about in pain.

"Gastrodon!" Kate cried. "Target Clear!"

The Gastrodon slid over to the machine, and after readying a water gun attack, fired away. Kate and Luana watched with interest as the machine spluttered and fell apart, just like that.

"Should we take it to the base?"

"We could try," Kate replied, "but it looks too heavy. Should we ask Big Bertha?"

"Sounds like a plan," Luana smiled. I'll call her. You go on to the base and fill Barlow in."

"So the pokemon were in pain because of the plantation of some red machine? And you destroyed it, and the pokemon were fine afterwards?" Barlow summarized.

"Yup! That's the whole of it."

"Well, where's the machine?"

As if on cue, the door to the base barged open and in came the heavy muscled Big Bertha, heaving the machine over her shoulder. Kate was impressed. That woman was really strong.

"Woah," Elaine, the mechanic muttered. "I want to take it apart!"

As Elaine charged forward for the machine, Barlow leaped in front. "No Elaine, I think we should call Professor Hastings and fill him in. You'll have to put a hold on dismantling it for now."

As Elaine sulked, Barlow turned back to the rangers. "I think you two ought to take a rest. There isn't anything planned for the rest of the day, unless you'd like to take an extra patrol."

"Actually," Kate replied quickly, "taking a rest sounds fine!"

Before Barlow could say another word, Kate rushed towards her room.

It didn't take long for a week to pass, and the dinner party to near. Luana forced Kate to accompany her dress shopping, much to Kate's dismay. In the end Kate settled on a simple white dress with pale gray swirls extending from the hem. Luana herself picked something a bit fancier, a red dress with bright yellow flowers bursting about and a golden belt. As the girls helped Barlow set things up, they found themselves getting somewhat nervous at the thought of finally meeting the well-known Crawford Bingley.

Kate sat down with little else to do. It seemed as though she had waited forever, and was perfectly ready to dismiss herself to her room and stay there, had Barlow not forbidden it.

"Kate?" a voice asked. Looking up, Kate saw a girl coming her way, and smiled the moment she recognized her.

"Rhythmi!" Kate shouted, pulling her childhood friend into a hug. "I didn't know you were coming!"

"Well," Rhythmi said, "I got the invitation from Barlow. You know I normally dislike this sort of thing, but I haven't seen you since RangerSchool! So I accepted."

"Kate! Rhythmi!" Luana skipped over. "They're here!"

The three girls headed to the entrance, watching the doors open and a small group of people walked in. One with untamed brown hair, almost like an afro, one with spiky red hair, and a girl with short auburn locks.

"Which of them is Crawford?" Kate asked curiously.

"The taller one with brown hair," Rhythmi replied.

Kate looked confusedly. "How did you know?"

"Who did you think was the operator at Netherfield base?" Rhythmi asked, grinning at the surprised expression of the two girls in front of her. "Anyways, the redhead is Keith Darcy. He's a bit of a show off, if you ask me. Not like Crawford, who's a lot nicer and friendlier. And the girl is Summer Bingley. She's a ranger who had been in the Oblivia region for some time, but came rushing here when she heard her brother was stationed here. Or so I hear."

"I see," Kate murmured. "I think you're right though. Crawford looks friendly, but the other two aren't- arrogant almost."

The three stared in silence watching the three; Crawford, who greeted everyone, Keith, who leaned by a wall and held his head high, and Summer, who stood by Keith in a similar manner.

"Luana! Kate!" Barlow called, walking over to them. "Come greet our guests!"

Waving to Rhythmi, the sisters walked over to Crawford and his 'companions'.

"It's nice to meet new rangers in Almia," Barlow began.

"It's nice to be here," Crawford replied. "A real pleasure. My name's Crawford, and this is my friend Keith, and my sister, Summer."

"Hello to you all. I'm Barlow, leader of this base, and these two are my rangers-Kate and Luana."

Kate and Luana smiled slightly, their cheeks pale red.

"Nice to meet you," Luana stammered. Crawford smiled, Summer smirked, and Keith pretended not to notice.

"Same," Crawford responded. "Um, well, if you aren't dancing with anyone else, will you dance with me for the next one?"

Kate's eyes widened at this, as did Luana's. Did that mean Crawford liked her? In her head, Kate thought about a partnership of the two in the future, smiling to herself. Luana nodded quickly, blushing more.

"What about you, Keith? Are you going to dance?"

Kate was surprised and almost insulted by her leader's forwardness. Keith looked at him for a moment, before turning away.

"Nah, I don't like to dance," he said, turning off. Summer followed intently.

"Uh, okay," Barlow said, walking off. With nothing much to do, Kate returned to Rhythmi, who she stayed with for the most of the evening.

After a good hour, Rhythmi was asked to dance by some ranger, and Kate, with little else to do, strolled the room.

"Keith, have some manners. If you're at a party, you should dance!"

Kate listened as Crawford scolded his friend, smirking slightly.

"I don't see why I have to," Keith folded his arms. "So what if I'm at a dance? Your sister is off dancing with some ranger, and I see no reason for me to dance with anyone I don't know."

"I've been dancing with that one ranger, Luana. I don't know her," Crawford pointed out.

"You were introduced to her," Keith countered.

"So were you. You were introduced to Luana and Kate. If I'm dancing with Luana, you can dance with Kate!" Crawford said, smiling as though he had solved a large issue.

Keith looked over at Kate, who immediately looked down at her feet, before turning back to Crawford. "She's okay," he finally said, "but I'm still not interested. Crawford, I'm not going to dance and that's my final answer. Go back to Luana, you're wasting your time with me."

Offended, Kate walked over to Rhythmi, who she filled in on what had just happened. The two sat together, talking until the dinner was over and most people were leaving.

Kate rushed to her room, happy to be able to change from her dress into her pajamas. Lying down in bed, she looked over at her sister, who couldn't help but smile.

"Did you have a good time?" Kate questioned.

"Oh, yeah, I guess," Luana murmured, still smiling as she crawled into bed.

Characters introduced:

Rhythmi Lucas (18): Friend of Kate's since their childhood. Rhythmi is the operator of Netherfield Base.

Crawford Bingley (19): Friendly ranger of Netherfield Base, Crawford is the friend of Keith Darcy and brother of Summer Bingley.

Keith Darcy (18): Picky and arrogant, another ranger of Netherfield Base.

Summer Bingley (17): Similar in character to Keith, a third ranger of Netherfield Base. (I've always imagined Summer having a crush on Keith and being jealous of Kate, secret revealed!)