Chapter 2: The Favorite of the Five
She was lost. Lost, lost, lost, lost, lost! Helplessly and utterly lost! And she was without Growlithe, to make things worse. A glance at her pink watch showed she was already ten minutes late. She should have met her father at Wintown's entrance ten minutes ago. Oh, she hoped he wouldn't be too angry with her.
But she was lost. Lost, alone, and crying.
She had been the one to insist that she was old enough, at 5, to come through the cave with Growlithe on her own. How foolish she looked now. Sitting on the floor. All Raum could do was cry.
Almost two hours later, a pink-haired Ranger appeared. Raum looked up at the woman, slightly embarrassed. She knew her lavender hair was messy and her blue eyes puffy. She looked pathetic.
"What's your name, sweetie?" The Ranger asked her calmly.
Raum sniffled. "Raum"
The Ranger paused for a second, then smiled and extended her hand out to Raum. "Let's get you out of this cave, Raum."
Raum shook her head 'no'. "No! Not without Growlithe!"
The Ranger frowned. "Growlithe?"
Raum nodded and paused It would be unwise to tell this Ranger, who was trying to help her, that Growlithe was her captured partner Pokémon that she had gotten using a modified Styler her father had built. It would be even more unwise to tell this Ranger that the example Styler had been 'recovered' from a fellow Wintown Ranger just three weeks ago. It would also be unwise to point out that said Styler was currently the centerpiece of her pink hair ribbon and was currently broken, the reason why Growlithe had become confused and wandered into that Jynx's attack.
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!"
'That sounded good.' Raum told herself. 'I just have to remember to get dad to fix my Styler.'
The Ranger audibly sighed. "Okay, Raum. I'll go find your Growlithe for you. You just stay here and wait for me, okay?"
Raum nodded and the Ranger left.
'Sheesh, as if it's a bother to go find Growlithe. What a stuck-up Ranger!' Raum thought. 'I wonder how long it will take her to find him.'
The Ranger only kept Raum waiting about ten minutes however, before she reappeared with Growlithe at her side.
"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." The Ranger told them.
Raum nodded and followed the Ranger out of the cave, with Growlithe following faithfully behind her. Elita led the twosome back towards Wintown. As they approached the town's entrance, Raum 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. It was her father and he looked very agitated as he paced back and forth. She really couldn't blame him: she was over two hours late. When the Ranger beside her stopped, Raum pushed past her to dash to him.
"Daddy!" Raum exclaimed loudly and threw herself at him. Raum could visibly see the worry in his face be replaced with relief as he hugged her. She knew what was coming next: a barrage of embarrassing questions about what had happened. Sighing, she decided to quick-step him.
"I'm sorry" Raum told her father, "Growlithe got lost and then I got lost too. But this pink-haired Ranger found me and got Growlithe back for me."
Here Raum leaned forward a bit more to whisper more quietly and sheepishly. "My Styler kinda…broke."
He sighed softly and told her quietly "We'll talk about this later."
Raum watched as he glared at the Ranger before giving her a curt nod. Then he pulled Raum up and pulled her away with him into Wintown. Raum watched as the Ranger vanished into the Ranger Base as they headed towards the mountains before she chanced a look up at her father. True, she was his favorite child, but he was no doubt upset with her and she would be punished for it. And now he had to fix her Styler too. As they walked up the path, Raum checking to make sure Growlithe was still following her, Raum wondered if she would even meet that rink-haired Ranger again. She silently hoped she would.
Years later, she would find herself regretting that thought entirely.
