Back to the main story! The flashback chapters will only happen with minor characters or the graduates. Speaking of the graduates, lets get to the story!
The 5 trainers continued on their way to Cerulean City, they were currently in Route 4. Route 4 was a hillside route, over the years it has become the bade of operations for a certain group, one of the graduates has even joined the group! The 5 trainers came across the base, there was a sign on it that read...
'Kanto Pokemon Ranger Base'
The group then heard a familiar voice...
"Hey guys! Good to see you again!" The group turned to face the voice and their faces lit up with happiness when they saw that it was Dwayne!
"Dwayne! Its been a while! What are you doing here?" Diego asked
"I'm following my dream to be a top Pokemon Ranger, I'm still a rookie now but i'm getting there!" Dwayne answered with pride
"Wow! What kind of stuff do you do?" Julia asked cheerfully
"Why don't you guys come inside and I'll show you!" Dwayne announced leading the group inside
The inside of the Ranger base was swarming Rangers, some were sending and receiving mail from other Ranger bases from other regions, some were heading out on their missions, and a few were just hanging out.
"Woah! I didn't know Rangers were this busy!" Renée noted
"This is why I'm glad I chose to be a coordinator!" Yuki joked, a boy had walked up to Dwayne, he had blond hair and he looked a bit tired, he had a pokemon with him. The pokemon looked like a yellow elephant standing on its hind legs, which were brown, Yuki scanned it with her pokedex
"Drowzee, the Hypnosis pokemon: If you think you had a good dream and you cant remember it, a Drowzee probably ate it"
The group looked at Drowzee a bit perplexed, the boy began to speak
"Well, well, well, if it isn't Dweeb! Having an entourage won't make you a better Ranger!" He says, he then looks at Julia and smiles confidently
"Hey Cutie! What do you say we go have some lunch later!" He flirts, Julia and Jack both scowl at him
"Anyway, I got a mission to take care of, later Dweeb!" He taunts, he leaves the Ranger base with his Drowzee following behind him
"Who's that jerk!?" Renée questioned
"That's Jethro, he thinks he's better than me because he captured a pokemon faster than me." Dwayne explains
"I already don't like him." Jack stated, Diego nodded his head in agreement, a woman walked up to Dwayne, she had dark blue hair and wore a Ranger Uniform, her ID Badge had 10 stars on it
"Dwayne, who are these people?" She asked
"Oh, Chief! These are my friends, Diego, Jack, Julia, Yuki, and Renée. They graduated from the Vermillion Pokemon Academy with me!" Dwayne explained
"Well it's a pleasure to meet you all! Anyway, I have your next assignment Dwayne, a small farm not too far from here has been experiencing some weird activity, they say they're dealing with a living cabbage!" She said
"A living cabbage?" Jack chuckled
"That's correct! Go on now Dwayne, you should finish your job quickly!" The Chief stated
The group of 6 went on to the farm for Dwayne's Ranger assignment
While heading to the farm, the group asked Dwayne a few questions
"Hey Dwayne, that lady was your boss or something?" Diego asked
"Well yeah, that was the Ranger Chief, Dana, she's the leader of the Ranger Base here on Route 4, she's also one of the 4 Rangers in Kanto to reach Rank 10, the highest Ranger rank!" Dwayne explained
"No offense Dwayne but your assignment seems really boring!" Yuki protested
"Well I'm still just a Rank 1 Ranger, a rookie Area Ranger, we get the simple jobs, the higher your rank, the more difficult jobs you get, Rangers like Dana get to go on missions in other regions, she even told stories about how she once saw a pokemon that looked like a bouquet of flowers!" Dwayne stated, as they continued, Dwayne told the others stories about him joining the Ranger Union and his first few assignments. He told them of how he got used to using the Capture Styler. They were fascinated with Dwayne's stories. Eventually they arrived at the farm, there was an elderly couple waiting for them. The old man wore brown overalls over a white shirt, he also had a mustache. The old woman wore a purple dress and a blue apron.
"There ya' are Ranger! The livin' cabbage is over here!" The old man said, he lead the group to his garden, there were several rows of cabbage and other vegetables, one seemed much larger than the others.
"There it is, the big one is alive I tell ya!" The old woman said, Dwayne walked up to the large vegetable and poked it, the bulb on it's head opened up revealing a red and blue budding flower, whatever it is jumped up from out of the ground and faced everyone. It had an adorable yellow face and stubby legs, it lacked any visible arms. The group all recognized the pokemon
"It's a Budew!" They all said simultaneously, the Budew became startled at the sudden outburst and retreated back into the dirt
"Well I'll be! So it was a pokemon the whole time!" The old man proclaimed
"So can you capture it with the Capture Styler?" Diego asked
"I'm afraid not, a pokemon has to be active and moving for it to be caught, the Capture Styler sends the Ranger's feelings through to try and calm the pokemon being captured down so it can be bonded with, but if it's like this then it'll reject any attempt at bonding!" Dwayne explained, he reached for a pokeball by his belt "This looks like a job for..." He said, sending out a Staravia. Jack scanned the Staravia with his pokedex
Staravia: The Starling pokemon: It lives in forests and fields. Squabbles over territory occur when flocks collide."
"So your Starly has evolved?" Julia asked
"Yup! Alright Staravia, use Whirlwind to bring Budew back above ground!" Dwayne ordered, Staravia used its wings to whip up a gust of wind that brought Budew back above ground, giving Dwayne the opportunity to Capture it with the Capture Styler. However it didn't end up that way, Jack's Spearow came out of its pokeball by itself, it sensed another strong bird in the area. Being competitive and territorial, Spearow began to attack Staravia!
"Spearow, stop!" Jack called out, but Spearow didn't listen, it attacked Staravia using Peck and Fury Attack, Staravia fought back using Quick Attack and Wing Attack, the Budew quickly ran away to some nearby bushes
The fight went on for a while, the group managed to lead the two quarreling birds away from the farm to avoid damaging any property
Once the fight was lead to an empty field, it seemed that it got worse, now that Spearow and Staravia had more open space, they could fly freely without worrying about damaging anything or hurting anyone. The two collided in the air several times, neither bird was giving up. Eventually Spearow and Staravia charged at each other with Aerial Ace, the two attacks collided with sparks flying as they collided, it ended with Staravia being knocked out and falling to the earth
"Oh no! No no no!" Dwayne said, he ran to catch his Staravia, which he thankfully did
"Dwayne, I'm so sorry, I don't know what got into Spearow!" Jack pleaded, Spearow was still an angry pokemon since its capture, Dwayne sighs
"Its alright, maybe you and Spearow should get to know each other better, then Spearow should be more cooperative then." Dwayne said, Jack looked guilty, the others will shocked at what happened, Spearow was still flying in the air above letting out a battle cry in triumph until...
"Drowzee, use Hypnosis!" A voice said, everyone turned to see that it was Jethro, he commanded his Drowzee to use Hypnosis on Jack's Spearow, the attack connected sending Spearow to the ground, it was fast asleep.
"I saw the whole thing! For you to just let your Spearow go on a rampage like that, you have to be a pretty bad trainer!" Jethro taunted, laughing at Jack's misfortune, he turned to Julia
"Still waiting for that lunch date Dollface!" He said, winking at Julia, she looked at him angrily, Renée stood up to him
"Listen here Jethro, you have no right to hit on my sister or call Jack a bad trainer, you don't even know us!" She shouted, Jethro placed his hand on Renée's chin
"Oh, sorry to leave you hanging sweetie! Well I'd really love to stay but I gotta jet!" Jethro said, leaving the group, they all gave him a nasty glare
From a nearby patch of tall grass, two eyes were watching the group, Dwayne specifically...
The group returned to the Ranger base
"I just got a call from the farm, Dwayne, you handled the task well!" Dana said, Dwayne smiled at his successful task, "Dwayne I've been doing some thinking and-" Dana was about to finish her statement before the doors had burst open, it was Jethro
"Im here!" Jethro said, the group's faces immediately went dark when they saw him
"Jethro, glad you could join us, I was just about to-" Dana said, before being interrupted again
"Promote me to a Ranger Rank 2! Aww you shouldn't have!" Jethro finished, this made Dwayne irritated, he was about to retaliate when to doors opened again... it was the Budew from earlier, it seemed to grow a bond with Dwayne
"Well Dwayne it looks like this Budew has taken a liking to you! But Staravia is already your partner!" Dana stated, Dwayne looked a little sorry for Budew, Dwayne already had a partner pokemon, he was about to send Budew away before Dana spoke up again
"However, Ranger Rules #2679 has allowed Rangers to use pokemon captured in the wild to stay with the Ranger that has captured them, so long as they have pokeballs available!" She said
"What? That's not a rule!" Jethro protested
"It is actually! It became a rule very recently, if you paid attention you'd know that!" Dwayne said, Jethro looked irritated, he was about to retaliate, but Budew defended Dwayne, it used Stun Spore on Jethro, freezing his body completely for a few hours.
"Anyway Dwayne, on to my main announcement, you've done nothing but good work since you've become a Ranger, so I hereby promote you to a Ranger Rank 2!" Dana proclaimed, the group cheered for Dwayne
Some time later, the group was about to leave Dwayne and the Ranger Union
"Thanks for showing us the life of a Ranger Dwayne, it was cool!" Renée said
"Anytime! Feel free to visit again if you get the chance!" Dwayne bid farewell to his friends
"Again, sorry about what happened!" Jack apologized for what happened earlier
"Jack, don't worry about it, just try to bond with your Spearow so it won't go out of control again!" Dwayne stated, the group went on their way, they were close to Cerulean City
So Dwayne has become a Ranger, you'll be seeing more of him at various points. Looks like our heroes have just about made it to Cerulean City and Yuki's first Pokemon Contest, but whatever happened to the Cerulean City Gym? Find out next time!