*stumbles inside*

*crashes onto couch*

Ugh…sugar hangover…the low that comes after the high….bleck….

Yo guys. The chapter took a little longer (and is a bit longer) than I expected. But I had a lot of fun writing this one! As usual, I took my own little spin on the adventure. Enjoy!

P.S. I feel like doing this anyways and it'll probably be best if I do so every so often.

*stamps disclaimer across your computer screen*

Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon. Wish I did. But I don't.

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Sunshine with lots of breezes. To Kate, it was a great day for the 1-day internships! Of course for Keith…

"Wish it had been warmer." Keith muttered.

"Oh come on! It's awesome out here!" Keith stretched her arms into the sky. "Besides, I thought you'd be more excited about being at an actual ranger base."

The redhead and spiky ponytailed friends were on their way out of the school. They were on their way to Vientown, which wasn't so far. Rhythmi left earlier for her internship at the Ranger Union (very ecstatically at that) since hers was reasonably distant.

"You're right." Keith beamed. "I am totally stoked to meet actual rangers and do some actual ranger stuff!"

"I wonder what we'll get to do…" Kate said, looking up at the clouds.

Keith looked over at her, relaxed to see her in a positive, upbeat mood. Judging the way she nodded off in class (up until the internship announcement), she must've had another nightmare. But he had decided not to pry.

Before heading out the gate, Ms. April ran up to them both.

"Hey! I just wanted to make sure you knew where Vientown is." She said.

"Of course! To the west, a very short walk away." Kate answered confidently.

"Good job!" Ms. April applauded. "Kate, please be careful. I know you'll want to jump right into danger but…"

"Ms. April, I'll be fine." Kate laughed.

"EEEEEEEEEEEK!"

Everyone turned to see a stick-like man clinging to a tree. Some bidoof were running around, obviously just playing.

"What the…?" She started to ask.

"That's Little Tim. He's from Vientown and owns a milk farm with his wife, Big Bertha." Keith explained. "He brings milk to the school. But ah…he's, well, afraid of pokemon."

"Oh ok. Got it." Kate nodded, understanding.

The man started to scream even louder as the bidoof wouldn't ease up. Kate said something about handling it and proceeded to go capture the pokemon. All with ease.

"Keith."

Keith turned to Ms. April.

"Do me a favor…and just watch over her for me." Ms. April sighed.

"Uh…" Keith wasn't quite sure how to respond.

Ever since that accident, Ms. April made sure to keep an eye on Kate. Keith thought it was because she was guilty for having one of her students in a dangerous position. Ms. April did care about her students after all.

"You might not understand this now…" Ms. April hesitated. "But protecting someone isn't just keeping them from danger."

Keith blinked.

"…ok…?" He shrugged, unsure of what else to say and extremely confused.

Kate ran back over as Tim headed up the stairs. Ms. April said goodbye and sent the two off towards the bridge to Vientown. As they crossed, Keith couldn't help thinking about what Ms. April told him. What the heck did THAT mean?

"But protecting someone isn't just keeping them from danger."

There was a little bit on chaos as a little girl was found on the bridge but Keith had been distracted still. So if there's more to 'protection', then what was it? What else could there be? Was there some sort of meaning he was supposed to get? And even more baffling…why did Ms. April say THAT to him?

Issac had some and picked up the girl (oh it was his sister…) then went off with Ponte. Kate had been happily chatting about how sweet the little girl was, comparing her to Megan, and then excited over Vientown again.

Was what Ms. April said supposed to relate to the favor? To watch over Kate? …no….Keith sensed it was entirely different. Ms. April had been implying something…

"Hey I think we're here!"

Keith snapped to attention. Sure enough, they were. It was a quaint little country town. Very easy-going setting. Out in the field was a farmland with some miltank (probably the milk farm). And the ranger base was not hard to spot in the slightest.

"Let's go!" Keith raced to the base with Kate in close pursuit.

"Hey!" Kate scolded, teasingly. "You cheated!"

"Ha! As if!" Keith smirked.

They opened the doors and walked into the base. Both gasped, thrilled that they were in an actual ranger base. It was even better than they hoped it would be. Though…it was odd how empty it was…

"Where IS everyone?" Kate looked around.

"HEY! WE'RE HERE FOR THE INTERNSHIP!" Keith yelled.

Bam!

"Ow! Don't scare me like that!" Someone cried.

A purple haired girl rose from under the main desk, rubbing her head. No doubt had hit it from the scare Keith gave her. Kate and Keith went right over.

"Sorry about that." Kate innocently smiled and bonked her friend right on the head. "We didn't know anyone was here."

Keith glared at her for a split second.

"I was reaching down for a pen." The operator told her. "And the entire base went out on a highly top secret mission."

"One heck of a crisis if everyone's gone!" Keith exclaimed.

"Oh yeah. I mean these pokemon, they…..I…I can't even say it…" The operator sniffled. "But Leader Barlow left you a package and some instructions."

The operator handed the box over along with the note. Keith snatched it up and read it for himself and Kate.

"Welcome to Vientown, rookies! Now how about a mission right off the bat? I left an extremely important parcel with our operator. Take it with you to Breeze Hill. The area's not hard to find. Go west of Vientown and across the beach. Best of luck! -Vientown leader, Barlow"

"Alright you two. Off you go!" Operator cheerfully said. "By the way, it's incredibly important than you NEVER tip this box over. No turning it upside down, don't flip it on its side and be extra careful!"

"Got it!" The two said in a union.

"Shall I do the honors?" Keith pompously asked, reaching for the box.

Kate reached over before he did and quickly grabbed hold of it. She laughed as Keith started fuming.

"KATE!" Keith tried to reach back for it but missed as Kate ducked aside.

He continued to chase her as they raced out the door and back into Vientown.

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The walk didn't take too long. As Barlow mentioned in the letter, west of Vientown was a beach. And what a nice beach it was! Golden sands, dazzling ocean waves and impressive cliffs!

"What a beautiful place…" Kate gasped, feeling the wind through her hair.

Looking around, the two students found they weren't alone. There was a happy couple that seemed just happy being together. An old man was feeding a mass of pokemon. Kate ran over to the pokemon to get a better look. There was a pachirisu, munchlax and starly gathered over berries.

"Aren't you ranger students?" The old man asked.

"Yep! We're on our way to Breeze Hill." Keith told him as Kate stroked the fur of a pachirisu.

"I assume you're on your internship. Good luck to you both." The old man said.

"Thanks!" Both responded.

Kate got up and started to follow Keith towards the hillside. Keith cast an devilish grain at her as they walked. Kate tried to ignore it. For 3 seconds.

"What?" She questioned.

"AHA!" Keith swiped the basket from the unsuspecting Kate. "Got it!"

"Hey give it back!" Kate objected.

Keith instead stuck out his tongue and broke into a run. Kate ran right after, determined to get the basket back. After a bit of time, they noticed the ground starting to get steeper. They made it! Breeze Hill! Kate was excited to finally be there and see what things lay in store when they reached the top.

At the peak, they found several people gathered around a checkered blanket. The uniforms, of course, made it easy to tell that they were rangers. There was Crawford and his Budew, easy to notice. A darkhaired girl was cuddling a buneary. A strong, dark-skinned man with his makuhita was talking to a girl with pinkish hair, who didn't seem to wear a ranger uniform or have a pokemon. Though that girl did have an eccentric outfit and goggles, parts with some oil spots.

"So…do we just introduce ourselves?" Kate asked, maybe just a tiny bit nervous.

"Yeah I think so…" Keith replied apprehensively.

At that point, the darkhaired girl turned in Kate and Keith's direction and gave a big smile.

"There they are! Oh they look so cute!" She squealed, her black eyes shining with joy

Everyone else turned to face them.

"I know you two! From Outdoor class!" Crawford said.

"Hey Crawford!" Keith said as Buddy, the budew, welcomed them.

Keith and Kate walked up to the group and set the package down on the blanket.

"Introducing everyone, the girl with the dark hair is Luanna with her buneary, Fluff." Crawford explained. "Then there's Barlow, the Leader, and his makuhita's Punch. Finally the oddly dressed girl is our mechanic, Elaine."

"I do NOT dress weird!" Elaine fired back as Crawford snickered.

"It's an important paracel…I expect it in one piece?" Barlow challenged.

Gulp. Chasing each other around in competition to carry it, they kinda forgot to hold it still. Kate was mentally praying for whatever inside to be alright.

"Yeah. Of course." Keith told him, seeming confident (though Kate wondered if he knew as well).

"Alright then…" Barlow opened the cover. "Lunchtime!"

Inside the 'important box' was sandwiches, soda cans and all sorts of fruits & pokemon berries. It looked very delicious but Keith and Kate were too stunned to speak as the rangers started grabbing for lunch. Crawford noticed the confused faces and burst into laughter.

"Oh those looks you're wearing is priceless!" He said.

"So all this was just lunch?" Kate blinked.

"Yep! Gotta hand it to you Crawford, you know how to think up the best pranks!" Barlow turned to the duo. "We thought it'd be fun to do this to every student who had an internship. A little something to remember us by."

"And you guys did better than I did last year!" Luanna complimented.

"Yeah she messed up the box so much our lunches were ruined!" Elaine chuckled.

At that moment, Keith had already dived into the lunch for a sandwich or two. Kate shot him a quizzed look.

"…what?" Keith stared right back. "I forgot to eat breakfast."

"Maybe but you still…wait you didn't eat breakfast?" Kate asked.

"Well if fu idn't crawsh into me down fa stairs…" Keith replied with his mouth full.

Oh yeah…THAT. A little transformation that was an extremely close call. Kate shook it off and reached in for one of the sandwiches as everyone chatted.

"Hey so how did your 'initiation' go?" Luana questioned.

Initiation….oh yeah!

"I never got to finish. Got busted by Kincaid right as I was about to put my stylers in front of the basement door." Kate replied.

"Ugh…I hated that teacher." Elaine rolled her eyes. "Can't believe I had him…"

"Yeah that guy was a real jerk. Always busting me for something I almost never did." Luana agreed.

"Almost?" Elaine rose an eyebrow.

"Welllll….running in the halls and replacing his silly string with hairspray, that was me." Luana confessed.

Kate broke into laughter. She and Keith had done spray paint, pokespray (which the bidoof went nuts over) and rotten milk. But not silly-string. She'd have to remind him later, seeing he were hanging with the guys of the group.

"Come on…you've got to have some pranks that you did. I bet you and Red probably did something." Elaine nudged.

"Yeah we…Red?" Kate blinked.

"Apparently that's Crawford's new nickname for your friend." Elaine looked over at the guys.

At the moment Crawford seemed to be poking fun at Keith, who had a little pink to his face. Barlow kept chuckling and adding to the jokes.

"And no doubt he'll find something for you." Luana ruffled Kate's hair. "But let's hear the pranks!"

Kate was mulling over which one to tell (hairspray or extra-wax floors). At least until a scream came from the beach. Everyone turned their attention to a guy, the one from the happy couple, come racing to them in a panic.

"Help! My girlfriend! She's…she's being held up by pokemon!" He told them in a hurry.

"Lunchtime's gonna have to wait!" Barlow was already up on his feet. "Everyone! To the beach!"

Everyone charged down the hillside and to the ledge that overlooked the beach. There they saw the guy's girlfriend being surrounded by two shellos as well as the pokemon Kate and Keith met earlier.

"H…help!" The girl squeaked, shivering in fear.

"These pokemon aren't usually this upset…" The old man said, who was watching the scene. "They're quite nice…please don't hurt them…"

"We won't." Barlow reassured. "Alright crew! Everyone takes a pokemon! Now let's go…"

"I CALL STARLY!" Keith ran down and was already off.

"Then I get pachirisu!" Kate called out, following his lead.

"…capture…" Barlow finished, a bit surprised at the two's actions.

Kate whirled out her student styler and began to capture the pachirisu. No problem at all really. She took a liking to her (Kate recognized stripe patterns from a book) since Kate pet the sweet pokemon earlier. In no time, the pachirisu was captured. Elaine clapped and cheered Kate from the sidelines.

"Alright! How'd we do guys?" Barlow asked the two other rangers, just finishing his capture on the munchlax.

"A-ok!" Crawford gave the thumbs up; he and Luana handled the shellos.

"And our new kids?" Luana asked.

"We new kids are doin fine!" Keith called back, patting the starly on its head.

"And no injuries to the people or pokemon!" Elaine added.

"Alright then! Now that the pokemon have calmed down, time to release them!" Barlow instructed.

He and the other rangers went first. Keith let the starly fly off. Kate tried to release her pachirisu…but…..why didn't she leave? Instead the cute little pokemon snuggled her leg.

"I said release the pokemon." Barlow told her.

"I'm trying to! But…" Kate had been really trying.

And yet…this pachirisu was adorable. What a sweetheart. Kate stopped trying to release it, finding herself a little attached.

"Awwww! It likes you!" Luana squee'd.

"And I think the feeling's mutual." Crawford teased.

Barlow and Crawford talked to the couple and old man on the beach, asking for an explanation on what went on. In the meantime, Kate was too busy to even pay attention to the details. The pachirisu climbed on her shoulders and rested quite comfortably. She and Keith were stroking its fur.

"Not that bad a pokemon." He said.

"Hey Red! Sparky!"

Sparky? Keith and Kate faced Barlow and Crawford, whom was beaming.

"Sparky?" Kate questioned.

"Yeah! You've captured an electric pokemon! Not to mention your hair's a little wild." Crawford told her.

"Says the guy with an afro!" Keith chuckled.

"Red and Sparky, you two did great work capturing those pokemon! We would call this sort of thing…Mission Clear!" Barlow said.

Kate and Keith, more excited than ever before, celebrated with their ranger poses.

"Hey they've got their ranger poses!" Luana gasped happily.

"Looked pretty good too." Elaine commented.

"Alright people! Let's move back to base!" Barlow started to run towards Vientown.

"Hey what about the picnic?" Kate questioned.

Barlow nearly tripped into the sand on that remark. He faced the group again.

"Oh yeah. We'll have to clean that up!" Barlow sheepishily said.

"How about we clean up while the students go back to the base, boss?" Crawford suggested. "Kinda to make up for the prank."

"You heard the afro. Both of you meet us back at base! We'll be there soon!" Barlow instructed. "Come on people! We're losing daylight!"

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Everyone had met up back at base within almost no time at all. The sandwiches were, as to say, 'cleared'. Kate had spent more time with the pachirisu, feeding some berries the operator offered. Keith watched Kate the entire time, though trying to resist looking happy about it. Crawford had given him enough heckling on Breeze Hill.

"With nothing else on the agenda, the time has come to say farewell to our little rookies." Barlow said.

"Aw come on. There's no goodbyes leader!" Crawford told him. "We'll be seeing Red and Sparky again! And they could be assigned to our base!"

"That would be so cool!" Luana jumped up and down.

"Yeah it would be!" Keith said, hoping he and Kate really would get Vientown as their base assignment.

He and Kate were just about to walk through the front door and leave.

"WAIT!"

Everyone turned to face Barlow.

"There's still the matter of that pachirisu." he pointed to Kate's shoulders, where the pachirisu cuddled comfortably (only looking up slightly at being mentioned).

"That's right. No partner pokemon till after school." Elaine reminded.

"Better let it go, Sparky." Crawford told her.

Kate sighed and nudged the pokemon, trying to coax her off her shoulder. But the pachirisu wasn't ready to go. It clung a little tighter. Obviously removing her wasn't going to be an easy task.

"I know you two are attached but you have to let go." Barlow told her, confused as to why it hadn't been done.

"I'm trying!" Kate really was trying; this time with pulling.

Geez this one was more than just emotionally attached. This pachirisu was clinging to her shoulders and neck as if for dear life. It didn't want to leave at all! Good thing she didn't have claws. Stubborn little thing…

"Here, let me help." Keith offered, grabbing hold of it.

The two students were trying to force the pachirisu off but even with their combined efforts, it still wasn't budging. It was about this point the pachirisu made it clear it wasn't going anywhere. And she conveyed that message via electric discharge.

"Stop it stop it STOP IT!" Keith yelled through the shock. "Why won't it come off?"

"Keith, let go before we're burnt up!" Kate shouted at him.

Keith did just that and electric attack ceased. Black ash covered their faces and arms. Their hair seemed to stick out even more. The pachirisu settled back down into Kate's shoulder. Both students leaned against the walls for support, exhausted from the efforts.

"This might be a problem…" Luana's voice trailed off, lost in thought.

"We're going to need some surgery to remove those two!" Crawford joked.

"Talk about inseparable." The operator said.

"Hold on!" Elaine raced to the mechanics station near the back.

She dug through some metal parts for a minute. Pulling out some sort of magnet, Elaine raced back to Kate.

"I made this magnet sometime back so we could power-up strong electric pokemon. It works similar to that box Electivire use. Sadly, it failed and could only physically attract smaller electric pokemon." Elaine explained. "I've meant to destroy it for spare parts but I'm glad I haven't yet."

"Good work Elaine!" The operator commented.

"Ready, Sparky?" Elaine asked.

Kate nodded. Elaine flipped a switch. A faint hum came from the magnet. Pachirisu immediately knew something was off and stared at the magnet. The humming grew a touch louder when the pachirisu's back & feet started hovering in mid air. The pokemon was holding onto Kate's shoulders but ended up slipping. She flew off and landed straight on the magnetic, very much annoyed.

"Woo! Works like a charm!" Elaine joyfully cheered.

"You two better run out before Elaine turns the magnet off. We'll return the pachirisu to the beach." Barlow told Kate and Keith.

The pachirisu was squirming around frantically, desperately trying to get away and run back to Kate. Kate seemed to have trouble trying to resist reaching out for it.

"Thanks guys! Hope to see you soon!" Keith called out.

"See you later Sparky!"

"Good luck Red!"

Kate and Keith dashed out the door and didn't stop running till they were out of Vientown, at the bridge to the school. They stopped to catch their breath. After a moment, they looked up at each other abdomen burst into laughter. With their hair electrified and black ash streaked on their skin, they did look a little ridiculous.

"Aw man this is priceless!" Keith was doubled over.

"I thought your hair couldn't get any messier!" Kate chuckled, trying to calm down.

Hey…her laugh wasn't that bad. Kind of adorable actually. And even though she was in a mess, Kate still looked phenomenal.

"Yoohoo! Rangers!"

Rhythmi ran up to them on the bridge. She seemed a little tired (no doubt from the long trek) but still perky and ready for action.

"Oh my gosh you guys look….pfft…" She was trying to suppress laughing but ended up failing.

"We had a secret mission. And in the end, we got a little fried…" Kate awkwardly said.

"That would explain the barbeque smell coming from you two." Rhythmi wiped the tears (from laughing) out of her eyes as they started to walk back to the school.

"We'll have to take a shower when we get home." Keith sighed.

"Maybe…together?" Rhythmi whispered to him, snickering.

Keith's face went red, as though it were painted. But his quick embarrassment turned to rage as he started to chase Rhythmi down the bridge.

"DAMN IT RHYTHMI! GET BACK HERE!"

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'Shocking' story, isn't it?

Hope you guys liked it and I certainly don't mind reviews! The next chapter will be coming up very soon so stay in your seats and await….

*forgot what I was going to say*

.I need some chocolate….

Authors note: OOPS...sorry for all of the uh...spelling errors (I am just not in the grammar zone today...)