After a long absence, here is another chapter! Honestly, I think the writer's block actually helped me this time. I'm pretty satisfied with this now, but my original plan for this chapter, I know, wouldn't have given me the same feeling.

To anyone still keeping a look out for a new chapter: sorry for the wait! Once again, I'm not making any promises about fast updates, but just know I actually DO try to write so I CAN update as soon as possible.

And, of course, reviews are always a great source of fuel. ;)

To My Oh-So-Fabulous Reviewer:

Botan04: Although late, here's a new chapter! ^ ^ Kate getting better soon? Hmm... That's something to think about... In what way? ;) Thanks for reviewing!

Disclaimer: Of course I don't own Pokémon! The only things I own in this story is the plot and any and all OCs I decide to add.


VI ~ Awareness


Kate

Warm-hot blood coursed through my veins as my heart pumped wildly. I could feel my eyes reflecting the colorful light as it wound around and around the flaming stallion. It glanced left and right again and again as the circle of color got closer to it. Sweat beaded at its temples as it took a defensive stance, waiting for the ring to make contact.

I breathed a little sigh of relief, wiping the perspiration off my own forehead. It had taken me nearly two hours to find this Ponyta, and about another hour to finally get it cornered. When the rancher who gave me this Quest had said this Ponyta was the head of the herd and will likely keep that title, he wasn't kidding! This Pokémon is fast and was raised very well.

So I watched on, smiling with satisfaction. I couldn't wait to see the rancher's face when he sees I managed to find and capture his prized Fire-type!

. . .

Ponyta burned that smiled off my face. Seconds before the ring of light made contact with it, Ponyta crouched and leaped over it.

Quite elegantly, too, I admitted grudgingly.

Free from the near-capture, Ponyta shook and, without warning, the flames on its body increased in size. I could only drop my jaw as its body followed the sudden change, glowing an almost blinding white for a few seconds before enveloping the flames in the color as well.

The grass shined at its hooves, the surrounding bushes sparkled from the light, and the trees seemed to darken slightly, as if wanting the attention solely on the Pokémon.

The wind picked up as the white form shifted, stretched, and retracted until it was a larger shape than the Ponyta had been. Slowly, the brightness lessened until it grew dull, and slowly, the vibrant colors faded in until the white was gone.

The large Rapidash threw its head back, letting the sun's rays shine down on its blazing mane and tail. It's muscles were well defined and probably visible for miles. (Okay, that's exaggerating, but still. That Fire-type was raised really, really well!) If it was 'fast' as a Ponyta, I could already predict it being lightning now.

Suddenly, it looked straight at me, its dark eyes set in a deep glare.

. . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . .

. . . . .

Oh, Arceus.

The red flames doubled in size; with a wide swing of the head and a mighty call of battle, the Rapidash charged at me.

And just like that, I bolted.

No matter how fast I ran, though, it was practically at a Dunsparce's pace in comparison to the Fire-type Pokémon. In mere seconds, it was my turn to be backed and trapped into a corner. Rapidash approached slowly, but it was not friendly. There was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide (but even if there was a place to hide, that Rapidash wasn't stupid.). I could only try to control my racing heart as the stallion reared up with another wild cry, but that was a futile effort.

Rapidash charged, lips drawn back and teeth bared. I snapped my eyes shut –

. . . . .

. . . .

. . . but nothing happened. I heard a strange crackle in the air. Slowly, I turned my head forward again and opened my eyes. "Oh!" Rapidash stood barely five inches in front me, wrapped in a winding blue line of electricity. I glanced to my left and saw my partner at the other end of the line, curled in concentration. I smiled. Pachirisu saves me once again.

With my back tightly pressed against the wall, I squeezed passed the still Rapidash, careful to not make contact and get paralyzed myself. Once free, I jumped back a couple of feet and pointed my Styler to the trapped Pokémon. "You were a worthy opponent, Rapidash," I spoke, feeling a smirk tug at my lips. "But alas, you have lost." With that, Pachirisu released Rapidash from his hold, and the Fire-type stumbled forward and bumped its head against the rocky wall. I resisted chuckling at the sight and instead made several large circular motions with my arm. The light of the Styler followed my movements until it formed that ring I've seen many times before. It wrapped the Pokémon in the center and, with Rapidash still recovering, the ring successfully made contact this time.

There was a pause as Rapidash blinked several times and shook itself free of the static remains. After it was done, it looked at me again and I tensed up, but relaxed when I realized it wasn't hostile anymore. The mighty stallion, once angry and set on a mission, now walked toward me calmly and allowed me to pat its long nose. I smiled.

Pachirisu suddenly appeared on my shoulder, and we high-fived-pawed (or whatever it's called).

Another job well done.

~.~.~.~

"Ho ho! He gave you a run for your money, eh?"

He made me run for something bigger than money! I kept my thoughts in my mind as I laughed – although it came out as more of an uneasy chuckle than anything else. "Heh heh heh...Yeah...The whole event was definitely an adventure in itself." The muscular rancher patted his new Rapidash on the neck. The stallion responded by nuzzling its nose in the man's dark hair. The rancher, Erik Holmen, laughed, but I scowled slightly, disappointed that Mr. Holmen was being tricked into believing his prized stallion was an angel. Pachez and I know the truth..., I thought with a glance at my partner talking to a little Cherubi a few feet away.

"I'll bet!" Mr. Holmen grinned. "I hope you'll come to my aid once more if ol' Rapidash here ever escapes again?" I didn't have to look in a mirror to see how pale I became, but the jolly man only bellowed in laughter at my reaction. "I'll take that as a 'yes'?" I was unable to answer, the color washing out of me even more, but Mr. Holmen grinned again. "Great! Thanks again, miss Ranger!" With that, he walked away, his Rapidash following right beside him.

They didn't go very far before the Rapidash turned his head back to look at me as he was still walking. The open, friendly eyes of the stallion suddenly narrowed into a glare. Shaken from my frozen state, I glowered back. With my index finger holding down my bottom eyelid, I stuck my tongue out at the Fire-type. It snorted and kicked in response, but his owner didn't notice. I could tell the Rapidash wanted to charge at me again, but unfortunately for the Pokémon, it couldn't. I continued sticking my tongue out until the two were out of sight.

"...Your face is going to stay like that if you keep it up; you know that, right?"

I jumped and instantly spun around, my heart thumping like crazy. I glanced a bit, but no one was there! With clenched fists, I stayed in place and continued to scan the area I heard the voice come from.

. . .

A soft cough...then the same voice spoke, "Uh...I'm right here, you know!"

With widened eyes, I slowly turned my head to my right. A boy with messy red hair stood just a yard away from me. A strange mix of annoyance, puzzlement, and innocent curiosity decorated his facial features, but it seems he was more offended than anything else, because I didn't notice his presence for...however long he was there. The boy glowered at me; I couldn't tell whether his red Ranger uniform emphasized the expression, or if it contrasted with its energetic colors. I tilted my head, partly in amusement, and partly serious in trying to distinguish the two possibilities.

Keith's eyebrows drew close together. "...What?" he asked when I had yet to say a word.

I blinked three times, then gave a very small smile as I straightened up. "Nothing. Just thinking that if you keep it up, your face is going to be the one to stay like that~" A pout accompanied the glower, and I smirked. "That's not making it any better, you know." Keith glared, and I laughed.

When I didn't stop even a minute later, Keith gave up, rolling his eyes and sighing. "Well," he said, "I guess I shouldn't be complaining."

That made me calm down. I looked at Keith, knowing my face echoed the confusion in my mind. "Huh? What do you mean?"

He shook his head, and promptly changed the subject. "Nothing really, but for a Top Ranger, your senses really suck." It was my turn to glare, but even I could feel it was probably more heated than necessary. The reason for that was because I couldn't think of a good comeback, and knowing me as well as he did, Keith grinned in satisfaction. "So what are you doing out here?"

I pouted and huffed before turning away and crossing my arms. "What does it look like? I'm doing my Ranger duties."

"Last I checked, making faces at nothing wasn't a part of our 'Ranger duties.'" Keith made quotation marks with his fingers as he grinned.

With a scowl, I countered, "How would you know? You've always slept during class back in Ranger School!"

Keith mirrored my scowl. "At least I was able to graduate with all of my senses!"

We glared at each other heavily. I racked through my mind to come up with something – anything, to throw back at him, and I could tell Keith was doing the same.

At least five minutes of silent glares went by before a hand suddenly grasped my shoulder. Keith and I both yelped simultaneously as we turned our heads to see our captor. "Will you guys cut it out already!" the blonde girl barked at us. "We're supposed to be mature adults; stop acting like we're back in school!"

Keith's eyebrows furrowed at the girl. "Adults? We're sixteen!"

"We're supposed to act crazy and stupid," I added.

Rhythmi took her hands from our shoulders and placed them on her hips. She began making gestures with her head. "Maybe you two, but don't start counting me in."

"Too late." I smirked. "You counted yourself in by arguing with us." Rhythmi's jaw dropped in realization while Keith and I doubled over in laughter. She looked indignant for a few seconds, but in the end, Rhythmi joined us in the fun.

OoOoO

Opening my eyes, I was met with a dark room slowly filling up with light. Quickly, I glanced around for Pachirisu. Finding him still curled up in sleep, I relaxed.

Ever since the mission, I've been having different kinds of nightmares about the events that occurred in Altru Park. Some were warped into lies about what happened (like me being unable to save that group of Budew, Pichu, Chatot, and Magby), and some were just retelling the scarier parts of the mission (like losing my way in the fire and being unable to breathe), but the worst ones...were about the dying Budew and that little boy. Sometimes in the dream, he would go into the fire himself after yelling at me and asking how I can be so incapable of saving a single Budew...

I sighed heavily. With each nightmare, I woke up with what felt like a heart attack, and unintentionally disturbed Pachirisu as well. He would go on my lap and either keep me company until I fell back asleep, or stay awake if I couldn't go back to sleep, even at my protests. . . . Pachirisu has lost so much sleep because of me.

Smiling slightly as the Electric-type finally got to continue his sweet dreams, I thought about the problem at hand. No, I didn't have a nightmare, but I did dream. . . . It was a really nice dream, too; succeeding in a Quest and developing an internal scar from it (those are the best ones!), getting teased for my dread at just the thought of doing a similar Quest, arguing with Keith, and then just having good ol' fun with my closest friends... So why do I feel this weird, heavy sensation in my chest? Was my body so used to waking up in fear that it just reacted this way out of reflex? Or was it something simple like just me not waking up in the right position?

I looked to the window; purple curtains covered most of the glass, but I was still able to see the sun rising through the thin fabric.

. . . . .

. . .

Oh... I know the reason. . . .

OoOoO

"Hey, Kate!"

"Yeah?" Tensing, I stopped in my stride and turned back half way, causing Pachirisu, who was jogging behind me, to bump into my calves and somersault backwards. He grumbled something under his breath in his Poké language.

Rhythmi ran up, then stopped with her hands on her knees when she was just a few feet away. "What..." she panted, "are you...doing...later?"

I glanced down at the shiny floors in thought. "Um...nothing, if I don't happen to find a request to do. . . . Why?"

Finally catching her breath, Rhythmi straightened up, disregarding the new wrinkles on her green Operator uniform. I blinked at the determination in her eyes. "Let's go shopping!"

Two blinks. "Uh...for what?"

"Clothes! What else?"

Relaxation slowly – ever so slowly – came back to my shoulders. By this time, Pachirisu was looking up at us in interest. "What for?"

Rhythmi rolled her eyes. "Does it matter? We haven't spent time together in forever and the one time I propose an outing, you question why?"

"I didn't mean – " The blonde silenced me with a raised index finger.

"One o' clock! Meet me in town."

"But – "

"No 'but's! You don't have a choice in this matter!" With that, my usually patient friend left, ignoring my puzzled expression.

After a few seconds though, I smiled slightly, but I could just feel no lightheartedness was reflected in the gesture. Looking at Pachirisu, I stuck out my elbow; he climbed up a moment later. "Oh, well." I sighed, turning back to the door leading outside. "Time to go."


That's it! A lot of '...', huh? Haha! I didn't really realize I did that until I was almost done writing. XD But oh, well; I think it worked. I gotta say, I really felt for Kate during the whole capture scene. XD I hope you all enjoyed the chapter!

Just in case any of you were confused: yes. that whole capture-Quest ordeal was a dream. Remember the prologue? That dream wasn't in italics either. ;)

The next chapter is called: Surprise!

Does anybody have a guess on what the 'surprise' will be?

IMPORTANT!: It's been up for a while now, but just in case nobody knows, I'll be keeping the status of all my current multi-chaptered stories on my profile page. There will also be Author Notes that will explain whether a story is on hiatus, in the process of being rewritten, or even just on a temporary break. I update the page regularly, so if any of you are curious about the status of the next chapter of V:S (or any of my other fanfics) either check my profile, or PM me.

Also PM me if you didn't understand something. I will either rewrite the concerned section to make it clearer, or just message you back in case I intended for the part to be portrayed that way.

I want to rewrite chapter two some, but I'm at a complete loss on what I should do. Any ideas? Regardless, I'll rewrite it when I do think of something, but for now, I'm going to be focusing on going forward with this story.

Special Thanks to My Reviewers: KateHitomiLovett, Botan04, Wind-Rain-Hail-Mirage-Ivy-Vine, Trigger Police, PixelPeep

Until next time; see ya'll! :3