"We are going to be the latest interns ever at this rate!"

"Maybe...a bomb!"

Protector of Silence

Chapter Eleven - An extremely important package

"NOOOO! This cannot be happening to me!"

"Take a chill pill Keith!" Rhythmi sat down at her desk and looked past Kellyn at the ginger ranger wanna-be. Keith was pulling on his amber hair, his eyes wide and looking like someone was being murdered right in front of him.

It's just a Maths lesson Keith

"Easy for you to say Kel!" Keith groaned "I can't remember all those times tables!" He took a deep breath and closed his eyes "Okay, focus Keith. 12 times 4 is 48. 12 times 5 is 60. 12 times 6 is 62... No, I mean 64! No, 74! No!..." He slumped forwards, his forehead touching the wood of the desk "I am so dead!"

The bell rung and the door opened. Everyone watched Miss April walk to the front of the classroom.

"Worst day ever!" Keith groaned just loud enough for Kellyn to hear.

"Okay everyone" Miss April said "Today you will be going on your 1-day internships."

A cheer broke out from the class. Keith sat up, now grinning in delight.

"Changed my mind, best day ever!" he whooped, throwing his arms in the air. Then he glared at Kellyn "Why didn't you tell me?"

Because it's funny to watch you panic and stress

Keith growled and threw the notebook back at him.

"Silence everyone!" Miss April shushed them "Today you will get to experience what it's like or be a real Ranger, Operator or Mechanic. For that you will have to head out to the facilities you have been signed up for. Don't take any side-trips and please be careful."

She then opened an envelope. Inside was a sheet of paper with a list of names and places on it.

"Sami, Ponte, you will be heading to the ranger base up in Pueltown" she explained "Rhythmi, you will be going to the Ranger Union. And Kate, Keith and Kellyn, you three will be going to the ranger base in Vientown." She folded up the paper and slotted it into the envelope again "Understood?"

"Yes miss" everyone said in unison.

Ponte and Sami left immediately, but the other four hung back.

"I'm trying out to be an Operator, so I'm heading to the Ranger Union" Rhythmi explained "It's quite far from here, past Pueltown, so I have to go right now. See you guys this evening!"

She ran out the door in a whirl of blonde curls, waving at them until she was gone from sight.

"Vientown base?" Keith asked "Isn't that where Crawford, the ranger from Outdoor Class, is stationed?"

"Yeah, I know nearly everyone at that base" Kate nodded "Hey. Since the three of us are all going to Vientown, let's all go together."

"Oh no" Kate gulped as they exited the school building. In front of them, four Bidoof were visible, churning up the lawn.

"Kaplan is so dead" Keith commented.

Kellyn nodded, wincing as he imagined what unspeakable horrors Janice would inflict upon Kaplan for this jailbreak.

"I better capture them before they cause havoc" Kate said "You guys go ahead."

The two boys simply nodded, not needing to voice their thoughts, skirting round the Bidoof and heading down the steps to leave Ranger School.

"Heeeelp meeeeee!"

"Oh now what?" Keith complained. The two of them reached the base of the steps. Halfway up a tree was a very scrawny man wearing an apron, clinging onto the trunk for dear life as two Bidoof ran in circles around the base.

Who's that?

"Hey! Little Tim!" Keith called as he and Kellyn approached the tree "Playing hide-and-seek with some of Kaplan's Bidoof?"

"No! That's not it!" the man cried, sounding terrified "Can't you tell by what you're seeing? These Bi-Bi-Bidoof are attacking me!"

"Come on! Come down!" One of the Bidoof called "The game's no fun when you're up a tree!"

'That doesn't sound like 'attacking' Pokémon' Kellyn couldn't help but think.

"Listen to them!" Little Tim cried "'Beedhoo! Beedhoo!' They're going to maul me! I can tell!"

Keith cocked his head to one side. "No, Little Tim, I think these Bidoof just want to play."

A Bidoof rammed the tree.

"Sure, Dazaru, that's easy for you to say!" Little Tim yowled "But I won't deny it! I'm scared - even deathly sacred - of Pokémon!"

"Awww, but these Bidoof are so cute..." Keith smiled like he'd seen a Mew or an Eevee.

Kellyn squeaked to get his attention and then tapped the side of his notebook with his pencil.

"Oh, you've never met this guy Kellyn?" Keith asked "This is Little Tim, the milkman. He's seriously afraid of Pokémon, but they all seem to like him. Probably because he smells of Miltank milk all the time."

Shouldn't we help him?

"Well, it's a ranger's duty to help citizens in need" Keith stretched his arms over his head "These Bidoof seem kinda agitated though. They may be tough." He paused to think. Wow, Keith thinking. "We'll split up. You take one Bidoof, I'll take the other."

Kellyn nodded and walked over to the calmer of the two. Revenge for all the times Keith got him up early in the morning.

The Bidoof was tougher than normal, but it didn't take Kellyn much more than a minute and only lost a bar or two of his capture styler energy. Keith however took ages, lost half of his styler energy and uttered at least six curses in the midst of it. Finally though, the two Bidoof calmed and bounded up the steps towards Kaplan and Claire's lab.

"Okay, that's done" Keith wiped his brow "Alright Little Tim! You can come down now! The Bidoof are gone!"

Little Tim surveyed the area for a long time to confirm Keith's words before slowly climbing down the tree.

"Aiyiyi! That scared me a-plenty!" he panted "I was good and scared, but I was saved. I was saved, but I'm still good and scared." He smiled at them "Thank you, Dazaru and...er..." he looked at Kellyn "Sorry, I don't think you're familiar."

"Oh, Little Tim, this is Kellyn Solluna" Keith introduced his friend "He's the adopted son of those farmers down in Chicole Village."

"Oh, well, I owe you both a big thanks" Little Tim continued "Those Bidoof were going to maul me! That was some good capturing!"

"Well, I am the best!" Keith grinned "And Kellyn has a brother and sister who were rangers apparently, so naturally he's second best."

Probably third best, Kate's still brilliant

"Yeah, I guess Kate is pretty good" Keith nodded.

"Thanks for recognising me Dazaru!" Kate came running down the steps "Don't worry, the other Bidoof are under control. Now Kaplan's got Janice and Claire to worry about. Apparently the Bidoof chewed through some of Claire's books."

"Well, that could have been my leg being chewed" Little Tim shuddered "Hello Hitomi, and thank you."

"Hi Little Tim!" Kate grinned "You're welcome!"

"Well, I surely won't forget you three for saving me" Little Tim nodded his thanks yet again "You'll make great rangers, I'm sure of it."

And with that he left in the direction of Vientown, his metaphorical tail between his legs.

"Come on you two, we're running late!" Keith ran towards the gate "Let's get to Vientown!"

"Wait a minute!"

All three stopped just outside the school gates as Miss April stopped at the bottom of the steps.

"Okay, whatever's happened, I didn't do it!" Keith held up his hands in defence, making Kate and Kellyn snigger.

"I was merely going to say I saw the three of you helping Little Tim out and getting those Bidoof under control" Miss April said "And instead of competing with each other, for once, you cooperated with each other. That's how real rangers would act. Now, keep your chins up and off you go to Vientown as if you were real rangers!"

Another distraction stopped them at the bridge.

"Oh what is it now?" Keith complained as he bumped into the back of Kate and Kellyn as they stopped "We're going to be the latest interns ever at this rate!"

They both silenced him with glares. Standing in front of them was a young girl with blonde hair that reminded Kellyn of Melissa, only her watery eyes were blue instead of brown. If her red and blotchy eyes and tear-streaked cheeks were anything to go by, she had apparently been crying.

"I came here see him but..." she sniffed and began crying again.

"Oh!" Kate rushed over, got down on one knee so she could looked the little girl in the eye and shushed her gently "Easy now, easy. Now, who did you come to find?"

The girl wiped her tears away with her purple sleeve.

"My big brother...he's not here" she sniffed.

Kellyn and Keith immediately began looking about for an older boy. But they couldn't see anyone.

"And who might your older brother be?" Keith asked.

"Hi, what's going on?"

They turned and saw Ponte walking over to them, his hair still turquoise due to the Halloween incident. Following him were Sami and Isaac. The latter's face lit up when he saw the girl and rushed over to her, pushing past Kellyn, Keith and Kate.

"Melody!" he smiled, embracing the girl in a big hug "Melody what are you doing here?"

Kellyn raised an eyebrow. He hadn't seen Isaac so happy since Principle Lamont said they were getting new science books for the library. Which was also the only time Kellyn had seen Isaac happy.

"Isaac!" Melody grinned, her tears forgotten "I came to see you!"

"Melody, I told you not to come!" Isaac shook his head "Didn't I say you weren't allowed to leave Pueltown by yourself?"

"I'm sorry!" Melody looked miserable again "I just wanted to see you..."

"Melody..." Isaac sighed "You're just a little kid. That's why I worry about you so much." He then turned and smiled at his fellow students. "Melody, let me introduce you to my friends. Everyone, this is my little sister: Melody Iori."

"Nice to meet you" Sami smiled "My name is Samantha Regina. But Sami's fine with me."

"I'm Ponte Ronko" the turquoise-haired boy smiled "Good to meet the little sister Isaac's always going on about."

"Hi, I'm Keith Dazaru!" Keith grinned and pointed at himself with his thumb "Best capturer in all of Ranger School."

Everyone else sighed and/or rolled their eyes.

"Also biggest loser in Ranger School" Kate put in, then smiled at Melody "Hello there! My name is Kate Hitomi. And this is Kellyn Solluna." She looped an arm around the aforementioned boy's shoulders. Kellyn mutely waved at her, and Melody copied. She seemed a little uncomfortable.

"Melody, I'm not angry with you any more" Isaac told her "Thank you for coming to meet me. I'll take you back to Pueltown on the way to the Ranger Union."

The two siblings sent them identical half-smiles before they crossed the bridge and headed down the path west.

"Bye-bye Big Brother's friends!" Melody called back to them.

"I think that's our cue to leave" Sami declared.

"Yeah, we're heading to Pueltown with them" Ponte added "Catch you folks later!"

The two of them quickly chased after Isaac and his sister.

"We have to get a move on too" Keith urged the remaining few.

"Yeah, it'll look really bad if we're late" Kate nodded "Let's see if we can make it to Vientown without finding a Hoppip stuck in a tree or something."

Against all the odds, the three of them made it to the Vientown Ranger Base without any other distractions. The base was a big circle shape with what appeared to be a tree or a bush growing on top of it.

"This must be the place" Keith approached the glass door that whizzed open automatically as he stood in front of them, scaring the living daylight out of him.

"Oh great Arceus!" Kate squeaked "My heart is starting to pound! How are you feeling?"

Kellyn pointed at her and nodded to say 'the same'. He could practically hear his own heartbeat echoing in his ears.

"Hello! Anybody home?" Keith called, walking inside, casting the automatic doors once last suspicious glance.

Kate followed the other ginger inside, but Kellyn suddenly shivered. He felt like he was being watched. He turned and glared at the bush opposite the base, beside a little farm cottage. After a few seconds, he saw no movement.

"Come on Kellyn!" Kate called him. Kellyn looked one last time at the bush before heading inside.

There wasn't much in the base. It was mostly a green carpet with two counters at the end, a door in the far wall between the counters and a charging machine leaning against the right wall.

It's awfully quiet. Is there anyone here?

"Hello!" Kate called "We're here from ranger school! We're Kate, Kellyn and Keith! The 1-day interns!"

Silence.

"Don't suppose they'll mind if we use the charging machine do you?" Keith asked.

Kate grabbed his wrist, shaking her head frantically. "Keith! No!"

"They won't mind, we're their interns, aren't we?" Keith broke free and jammed his styler into the slot to charge. Then Kate and Kellyn quickly charged theirs, not looking Keith in the eye for fear of seeing his smug look.

"It's so quiet here" Keith commented "Ah well, soon to put an end to that." He cleared his throat. Kate and Kellyn covered their ears as if cued. "HELLO! ANYBODY HOME!"

"Keith! Good Latios! Cut it out!" Kate hissed.

I'm already mute, and now thanks to you I'm deaf!

"Oh sorry!" A female Operator with purple hair opened a door behind the right counter and noticed them. "I had to go and fetch something and didn't hear you."

"Near impossible, thanks to Keith" Kate muttered.

"You must be the students for the 1-day internship" the Operator commented as they walked over "Wait a minute. You girl - I know you."

"Yes, I stayed here for a week or so before going to Ranger School" Kate smiled at the recognition "I'm Kate."

"Kate, yes, I remember a Kate" the Operator nodded "And you two are?"

"I'm Keith" Keith answered "And this is Kellyn."

"Okay, I've got something for you here" the Operator placed a wicker basket on top of the counter. Keith slid it off the counter, then it dragged his arms down to the floor with its weight. Kate giggled, Kellyn holding back a squeak of laughter.

"Everyone's up on Breeze Hill, the cliff behind Nabiki Beach" the Operator went on "They had to handle a critical mission."

The three interns stared at each other, not sure what to make of that announcement.

"Everyone had to go out on it?" Kate asked, sounding worried. And considering she was raised by half of Summerland Ranger Base, it had to be bad.

"Great Latios, that much be one whopper of a crisis!" Keith added, his eyes bulging out in alarm.

"Yes. Yes, it is" the Operator started to get chocked up "Some Bidoof... Oh, no! I can't force myself say it!" She gave a gasp of horror.

Kellyn inwardly groaned at the previous half-sentence. 'Not more Bidoof, haven't those things already had a chance to ruin our day?'

"But anyway, our leader knew you three were coming and left a letter" the Operator went on "Let me read it to you." She unfolded a piece of paper and cleared her throat "'Welcome all of you! Here's a mission from the get-go! We've left an extremely important package with our operator. Bring it to Breeze Hill where we'll be waiting. Do NOT drop it, tip it on its side and above all DON'T TIP IT UPSIDE DOWN!'" The Operator gave their very confused faces a warm smile "So, off you go."

"Okay..." Kate raised both eyebrows "I know those guys do some strange stuff but..." She shook her head "Well let's go." She and Kellyn walked towards the doors. "Coming Keith?"

"Hang on just a sec!" Both turned to see Keith hunched over, dragging the 'Extremely heavy and important package' along the floor.

"Oh come here you big baby!" Kate marched over and gripped one wicker handle whilst Keith took the other. The two to them managed to lift it together and carry it towards the doors. Kellyn opened the glass doors for them, deciding not to help as he had the least physical strength out of the three of them (Keith had never let him live down the day Kate had beaten him in an arm-wrestling competition).

The three of them walked west out of the base, down some steps onto Nabiki beach where some swimmers were hanging out. Kellyn shivered at the idea of swimming in the early November weather, but nobody else seemed to mind.

"Keith! Stop jiggling the package!" Kellyn looked over his shoulder and saw Kate scolding Keith "Who knows what fragile item is in here!"

"Yeah, what heavy thing is in here exactly?" Keith asked "Maybe...a bomb!"

Kellyn raised an eyebrow.

You seriously think these rangers would trust interns with a bomb?

"Well, Crawford might do that, he's crazy enough for it" Kate commented to Kellyn's unease "I wouldn't put it too far past Barlow either. But the girls would hand in their stylers before they did something like that." Kellyn gave a sigh of relief. Kate sent him a smile, looking at him like he was the most adorable thing on the planet. "So I don't think it's a bomb."

"Well what it is then?" Keith groaned "It weighs a tonne!"

It took all three of them to carry the package up two flights of steps. Finally though they reached the top of Breeze Hill. Kellyn normally felt at ease upon the cliff, so many fond memories with Luke and Clio making him feel safe. But today the hilltop was taken up by a large red and white blanket, plus four people.

The first was a large dark-skinned man with magenta hair and the same coloured moustache. He was standing with a Makuhita. The second was the ranger from their Outdoor Class, Crawford, and his Budew. The third was a female ranger about a year older than them with long black hair. She was grooming a Buneary. Finally there was a woman who looked like a mechanic and had no partner Pokémon. She had brown hair and adorned a black headband.

"We made it! FINALLY!" Keith gasped as he and Kate stumbled to the top of the hill with the package. They set it on the ground and gave a sigh of relief.

"So, what do we do?" Kate asked.

Go up there and introduce ourselves?

"Sounds like an idea" Keith nodded.

He and Kate picked up the basket again and staggered over to the edge of the blanket before setting it down again, careful not to drop it.

"Ahoy there rangers!" Keith called. Everyone, even the Pokémon, jumped. They all looked at the three new arrivals.

"Kate!" beamed the two girls.

"Hi Luana, Elaine!" Kate waved at them. The oldest and most heavy-set man walked over to them, skirting around the edge of the blanket.

"Was that an 'Ahoy there' I heard?' he asked "Well, that's original. Last time we heard something like that was when Luana joined and said - Crawford..." He looked at Crawford who put on an Irish accent.

"Hello Luana... No! Sorry! I mean hello, my name is Luana" he recited, causing an explosion of laughter from the headband-wearing woman, a chuckle out of the eldest ranger and a glare from the black-haired girl who Kellyn presumed was the Luana they were all teasing.

"Well, it's natural to be nervous" the man sighed "After all, this is a key mission. So...the extremely important package. I fully expect it to be safe."

"Just take it!" Keith shoved the basket towards him "We can't carry it anymore!"

The man glared at Crawford. He demanded: "Crawford, how much did you force Luana to put in there?"

"Why me?" Crawford threw up his hands in defence "It was Elaine who was insisting upon bringing so many!"

"Oh please Crawford!" the headband-wearing woman shook her head "We all know it's you who has a bottomless pit in your stomach!"

"Okay, settle down, as long as the package is in one piece" the man stopped a possible fight breaking out. The woman picked the package up with ease, to the astonishment of Kate and Keith "Be careful with it. One shake and it ka-pow!"

The three interns gulped nervously.

"Okay everyone!" the woman called them over "Gather round! Lunch is here!"

"Yeah! Chow time!" Crawford and Luana practically tore up the grass with their heels as they raced over to the blanket and sat down. The interns blinked in bewilderment. Then the woman unloaded the basket, filled with sandwiches, drinks and salad!

"Ha ha! The stunned looks on your faces!" Crawford laughed, grabbing a tuna sandwich "You remember me? Crawford from Outdoor Class? Sorry I had to cut that class short for the sake of that mission."

"It's fine" Kate smiled "How is the Mantine?"

"It's fine, we released it back into the ocean last week after a full recovery" smiled Luana in a much more realistic Irish accent than the one Crawford had imitated "My name is Luana, the newest ranger here. I fell for that prank last year, but when I brought the package I'd jiggled it about and the food was all mushy. The orange juice had spilt all over the ham sandwiches and Crawford gave me no end of grief about it!"

"I wouldn't worry Luana, you're not the first to fail that test" smiled the man who was now at the head of the blanket, then turning to the interns "Good work the three of you. The mission's cleared. The name's Barlow. I'm the leader of this here ranger base. And this is my partner Pokémon, Makuhita." The Pokémon called out its name in greeting.

'Hello there' it said in a gruff voice.

'Nice to meet you' Kellyn smiled mentally, startling the Makuhita temporality.

"Oh, there's another thing" Barlow added "This whole prank thing wasn't my idea. Crawford thought it up."

Crawford choked on a celery stick and Luana had to give him a big pat on the back to dislodge it.

"That's not fair, Leader!" the Afro-bearing ranger complained "You're the one who was going on about what a great idea it was!"

"Okay boys, break it up before Crawford chokes on something else" the headband-wearing woman put in, then looking at the interns "Hi there. I'm not a ranger, I'm a mechanic. My name is Elaine, but don't worry if you can't remember all our names at once."

"You all remember me, I'm Kate" Kate smiled, sitting down next to Elaine.

"Of course we know you little troublemaker!" Elaine ruffled her ginger hair "But who are your friends?"

"Um, uh, I'm Keith" Keith finally stammered a sentence.

Pleased to meet you, my name is Kellyn

Kate read Kellyn's message out since Keith was having a nervous breakdown.

"Wait, yes, I remember you two" Crawford nodded, pointing at Keith "You're the boy who wanted to ask me a thousand questions. And you're the mute child who..." He broke off as he shifted his gaze to Kellyn, eyes almost teasing and it was clear he remembered exactlywho Kellyn was.

"I wish I could have my own partner Pokémon someday" Kate sighed, distracting everyone before Crawford could completely embarrass Kellyn "Maybe a Pacharisu. They're one of my favourite Pokémon."

"I like Buizel" Keith said in such a hurry Kellyn had to concentrate to hear what he was saying.

"Well, you'll be able to after you graduate" Barlow informed them.

"But that's ages away!" Keith whined.

'Now that's the Keith we all know and hate' Kellyn smiled as he thought that.

"Oh, starting to feel at ease now?" Barlow smiled "Sorry for tricking you three like that. It's become a tradition for us."

"Okay, enough introductions" Crawford said "Please finish Leader so we can eat our lunch without having to concentrate on what everyone's saying!"

Barlow sighed. "Crawford is there anything you won't eat?"

"Yes" answered Crawford matter-of-factly "Bread when Elaine has put it in the toaster."

Everyone, even Elaine, laughed at that.

"Okay, let's get down to it" Barlow nodded "Let's give our trainee-rangers their welcome lunch."

"You two boys can sit down now" Kate giggled as she told her fellow classmates. The two sat down at the unoccupied end of the blanket.

Keith immediately felt right at home in his natural habit, a plate of food, but Kellyn was still feeling nervous. He reached towards a bowl of crisps, then drew his hand back and looked at it hesitantly.

"It's fine Kellyn, you have as much as you want" Luana smiled warmly at him "After all, nothing's stopping your friend."

Keith and Crawford were apparently in the middle of an eating competition.

"The food's great!" Crawford cheered between mouthfuls "Much better than last year's!"

"Well am I glad to hear that!" Elaine laughed.

"Guys! Stop it!" Luana protested, then turning back to Kellyn "You came through Nabiki beach right?"

Me and my friend Luke used to come through here all the time, before I started school

"I see" Luana nodded "That beach is where I met my partner Pokémon Buneary." She gestured at the rabbit Pokémon eat a lettuce leaf "Your Ranger School uniform, it brings back fond memories..."

You went to school with Crawford and Elaine

"Yes" Luana nodded "Elaine had to stay behind for an extra two years as she studied to be a mechanic - it's common for them. And Crawford started a year late because he transferred from Jhoto. So we became classmates and friends. I was lucky to have them, I don't know if I would have made it through Ranger School without them."

I don't know what I'd do without Keith, Rhythmi and Kate

"Yeah" Luana agreed "Friends during school are important. Believe me."

"Heeeeelp!" Everyone startled as a man in a T-shirt and swimming trunks came racing up the stairs towards them "Rangers! Somebody help us!"

In the bushes, a small Pokémon gave a snigger.

'Try this on for size Hero of Almia!' She thought 'If you can keep a level head through this, I may see for myself exactly what Lunick meant.'