Ranger School-First Day
The giant gates beckon me. Anticipation wells up in my body. I can't believe it; I'm finally here. I'm finally attending Ranger Academy! Joel had told me that I'm going to make my lifetime friends and rivals here, and I absolutely can't wait. Joel, Spenser, Elita, and Cameron, the base leaders of Fiore, once walked these halls, and now it's my turn.
I was never actually that close to the rangers, but I would always have a quest handy whenever patrols were going on. Sometimes I'd have them bring a pokemon to me, show me how to do a capture, or I'd usually just ask them questions about being a ranger. That nice ranger from Ringtown, Lunick, actually sent in a special request to get me into this school when I told him how I want to become a ranger one day despite the fact that the term already started. I owe him everything for doing that. The day I left, I went to thank him one last time before going. Luckily, he was in Fall City and I got a bit of advice from the graduates:
"You're going to make friends and rivals that last a lifetime. When you find that rival, make sure you beat them soundly like I always do to mine."
"Like, don't forget to relax with your friends. Ranger life is hard and demanding; you'll never know when you'll get a break. Get a boyfriend too while your at it."
"Make sure your nice to the soon-to-be mechanics and operators. They'll make life easier for you; I promise."
"I was a special case, so I didn't go to the school. Let me tell you though, being a ranger will be worth it."
I smile as I remember that last bit of advice. There is no doubt in my mind that becoming a ranger will be worth every sleepless night, test, study session, and whatever else this school will throw at me. The Ranger Academy is my ticket to my dream job. It's now or never!
Suddenly, the gate opens, and a voice calls out, "Hello? You're the new student, aren't you?"
A woman in her early twenties approaches me with a warm expression on her face. This must be Ms. April! The acceptance letter stated that she would be my teacher for the next couple of years in this school. I really hope that she's a good teacher; otherwise my chances of being a good ranger will go down by miles. The way she carries herself gives me the impression of someone who has plenty of experience in their career, and I take that as a good sign.
Finally, she makes it to where I am. She quickly gives me the rundown of my schedule today, "Hello, Kate. I'm Ms. April, your new teacher. I'm going to guide you to where you will take your entrance exam. Please don't worry about it; you'll be accepted even if you don't get it on your first try. After that, I'll take you to class, and you will introduce yourself to your classmates. Then, I'll appoint someone to give you a tour of the school. After your tour, you are free to do whatever you wish."
"Thank you, Ms. April," I thank her politely.
Ms. April smiles genuinely before guiding me to take my entrance exam. She gives me a student styler before ushering me inside. I don't even have the time to marvel at the styler! She introduces me to Mr. Kaplan and Ms. Claire quickly before leaving to check up on her class. They, for lack of better words, teach the physical aspects of being a ranger. In other words, they're gym teachers.
"Okay, Kate," Mr. Kaplan announces in a creepy voice. "You have to capture one of the most dangerous pokemon in the-"
Ms. Claire interrupts him with a loud smack. "Don't scare the poor girl! She's only thirteen; I doubt she needs a heart attack!"
"Fine!" Mr. Kaplan groans. "You just need to capture the pikachu. Don't be afraid to ask for help."
A pikachu bounds over to me with a friendly grin on its face. I have to keep myself from squealing; my first ever catch is going to be a pikachu! I always saw them running around my apartment building in Fall City, and sometimes I would play with them. I couldn't ask for a better first capture if I tried! I hold up the student styler that Ms. April gave and copy the exact form that I've seen most rangers use at the beginning of capture.
"Capture on!" I whisper with barely concealed excitement.
The capture disk flies out of its little compartment at the top of the styler, and it races to the pikachu. An antenna pops out of my styler to control the disk. I utilize it immediately and start encircling the pikachu with wide loops. The pikachu watches me with mild interest, and I lock eyes with it. Before I know it, the loops surrounding the pikachu turn orange, and I'm yelling, "Capture complete!"
Mr. Kaplan claps slowly, "Congratulations, Kate. You only took a couple of minutes to capture the pikachu, an exemplary performance. Now you are a part of our academy, and together we will take over the-"
He's interrupted by another slap from Ms. Claire. She gives him a warning glare, and he sighs sadly. Not two seconds later, Ms. April walks into the building and asks if I'm done with the exam yet. Mr. Kaplan and Ms. Claire release me, and I'm ushered into the main school building. The school seems to really only have two main classrooms, but maybe that's my imagination. Ms. April leads me to the classroom on the left side of the hallway. She motions for me to stay outside until I'm called in; it's probably to build up some type of drama or anticipation.
After a minute or so, I see Ms. April gesture through the window. I take that as my cue to walk in. All of the students' eyes follow me as I walk to the front of the room, and it unnerves me a bit. I try to shrug off the feeling, but I'm not really all that successful. Heat rises to my cheeks unbidden at all of the attention, and it only gets worse when Ms. April asks me to say something about myself.
"W-well," I stutter out. Shoot! This isn't going too well for me so far; I'm stuttering like a broken record! I better wrap this up quickly. "My name is K-Kate, a-and I'm from Fiore. I came here to become a ranger."
Someone to my left snickers the moment I say "ranger." When I glance over, I see a smug-looking redhead analyzing me. He looks me up and down as if sizing me up before smirking. What's that supposed to mean? Deciding that I don't like that look on his face at all, I throw a glare his way. The entire exchange is happens in a span of literally two seconds, and it doesn't seem like anyone really noticed it.
"Keith, what's with that big grin on your face?"
Maybe someone did.
Apparently deciding to move on, Ms. April clears her throat, "Anyway, Kate, please take a seat next to Keith. He's the one to the far left of the room."
Great. I've got Mr. Smirk as a desk partner. Woop-de-doo. I really wish there was another empty seat, but unfortunately, this class is packed. Sighing inwardly, I trudge over to my new seat and pointedly ignore my neighbor.
When I sit down, Ms. April continues, "Okay class. There is going to be no more of this new-student attitude; from now on, you are all my students who I take great pride in. Since today is a special occasion, we are going to have the rest of the day as a huge study hall period. Considering that there will be a quiz on quests in a few days, I recommend using this time to study." A blonde girl towards the back raises her hand. "Yes, Rhythmi?"
"I've been studying for this quiz all week, so maybe I could show Kate around?" Rhythmi asks boldly.
"Of course. Without further adieu, class dismissed!" with that, Ms. April leaves the room.
Immediately, I'm surrounded by curious students. They call out questions that I can barely hear over others' questions, and before long, I feel a massive headache coming on. Finally, a voice climbs over the rest.
"Hey! Give her some room to breathe!"
I look up at my savior, the blonde girl named Rhythmi. When I lift my head, she takes it as a cue to grab my wrist and drag me out of the classroom. Thankfully, the mob doesn't follow us out, and we are safe.
"Thanks!" I finally sigh out. "That was..."
"Insane?" she supplies helpfully.
"Yeah. Insane..."
"Hey, what's-your-name! How long did it take you to capture that pikachu? An hour?" a guy says from behind us.
I whip around to find that same smirking redhead looking at me with an air of arrogance. Oh how I wish I could just wipe that smirk right off his face; maybe I could use a hammer!
"Two minutes!" I shot back. "You?"
If anything, his smirk grew wider, "A minute and a half."
"Dazzle, shut your trap!" Rhythmi buts in.
"Now now, Keller, it's not my fault I'm the best ranger student here," Keith says nonchalantly. "Skate here just can't compare."
Skate? Really? I clench my fists and bite the inside of my cheek to keep from throwing a tantrum. HE'S DOING IT ON PURPOSE THE PISS ME OFF! Apparently, Rhythmi agrees with me because she, once again, grabs hold of my arm and drags me away. For the second time today, I'm grateful to the helpful blonde.
"So now that we're away from Mr. I'm-a-big-shot, lets start that tour!" Rhythmi chirps. She finally relaxed with Keith out of sight.
She leads me into the room next door and knocks. A muffled, "Enter!" reaches our ears, and Rhythmi opens the door. Immediately, the smell of hairspray sends me into a coughing fit. It's overpowering, and it's attacking my lungs! Finally, I decide that holding my breath is probably the only way to deal with it, and I finally gather my bearings a little.
"-and I just wanted to introduce her to the other homeroom teacher."
"Very well," says what I now realize is the source of the overbearing hairspray, "I am Mr. Kincaid as your friend just said. If you wish to do well at this school, I must insist that you follow but one rule. Do not run in the halls. Now please excuse yourselves. I have a class to teach."
Rhythmi and I don't need to be told twice. We hightail it out of there faster than a rapidash using agility. When we are out in the hall again, I suck in lung-fulls of air. I've never felt more thankful for clean air in my entire life. I feel sorry for the guy's students. If I only lasted a few minutes, how can they stand being in that room for hours?
"What's his deal?" I wheeze out. "I've never felt so suffocated in my life!"
"No one really knows why he puts on so much hairspray. His hairdo shouldn't really require so much of it; trust me. I've seen bridal hairstyles that need less hairspray to last the entire wedding than the amount Kincaid uses in an hour. Don't get in trouble with him. I can't imagine spending hours in a room with him..." Rhythmi shudders in disgust. "Why don't we get on with the tour?"
I nod. She can lead me anywhere as long as we do not go back into that classroom. Hopefully, this is the worst part of this "tour."
"Up this hallway is the library and teachers lounge. If you want to avoid Keith, make sure to stay out of there during his nap time. A lot of us joke that it's his nap room. Of course," Rhythmi smirks, "he's any easy target to prank when he's out cold."
I laugh a little at that. It's good to know that sweet revenge won't be too hard to achieve whenever the guy chooses to be a jerk. Of course, based on what I've seen, that's just his full time personality. That is just too bad for him then. I wonder if Ms. April has a spare permanent marker that she wouldn't mind me borrowing...
Ding! Ding!
The bell's chime rouses me from my plotting. What a shame; I guess I'll have to plan out my revenge later. I'll have plenty of time for that over the next couple of years...
"Oh, that's the bell that signals when we're allowed to go outside. I guess I can show you the dorms later; we only have a limited amount of time outside," Rhythmi observes absentmindedly.
With that, we head outside. Despite the fact that I was out here earlier, I only now really take in the surroundings because I was too excited to get in the school before. A grassy field stretches out until the cliff cuts it off. In the middle of the field, the grass is a little lighter. In fact, the lighter grass looks like it makes a shape...
"Hey, Kate?" Rhythmi snaps me from my thoughts. "You do know about target clears, right?"
Target clears? I silently wrack my brain for any information that I could possibly know on the subject, but I come up blank. All of those years obsessing over rangers, and I don't know what a target clear is? This won't do! I shake my head "no" to Rhythmi.
"Oh, then we need to take you to Ms. Claire and Mr. Kaplan."
Kaplan? "Isn't he the guy who-"
"-talks about world domination and the like?" Rhythmi finishes for me. "Yeah, he is. I think that he just likes the drama of it all, you know? I mean; he doesn't exactly make good on those claims."
I laugh nervously. I really don't want to spend more time with that particular teacher. I honestly don't know if he's creepy or goofy, and I'm not exactly interested in finding out. Still... I guess Rhythmi wouldn't purposely lead me into trouble; she seems like a decent person...
We walk into the building that serves as Mr. Kaplan's and Ms. Claire's classroom, and of course, Mr. Kaplan greets us with, "So my minions have come for their training! Good, good! Perhaps with enough hard work, you two can rise through the ranks in this organiza-"
Smack!
Good thing Ms. Claire is here to keep him in check.
After that small ordeal, it's safe to say that the lesson was a normal one. The two teachers linked the lesson. First, they started by showing certain mechanics for capturing by capturing a bidoof. I pay close attention since I don't have anything on me that I can take notes with; my bag and materials were taken from me before to put in my dorm. After the bidoof is properly captured, the two teachers demonstrate a proper target clear. Me. Kaplan points his styler at the bidoof before clicking the "target clear" application on his styler and drawing a line to the crate he wants bidoof to catch. He makes a show of confirming the target clear, and the bidoof breaks the crate just after he clicks the "yes" button.
"Any questions?" Ms. Claire asks.
Not being able to think of any off the top of my head, I shake my head.
"Well, if that's the case," Mr. Kaplan begins, "I implore you two to get back to your studies, so one day, we can rule the wor-"
"Mr. Kaplan, don't go spreading that crazy conspiracy again! Girls, please show yourselves out; I need to have a word with Mr. Kaplan," Ms. Claire requests. It feels more like a demand...
Rhythmi and I waste absolutely no time hightailing it out of there. I don't know about her, but Mr. Kaplan's ramblings still creep me out. I'm not really looking forward to future classes with him...
"Ahhh!"
"That sounds like Janice!" Rhythmi gasps worriedly. "We should check it out!"
With that, we race to the center of the school's, for lack of better term, front yard. We are greeted by the sight of nine bidoof storming away angrily from the woman, Janice I believe, who is trying in vain to corral them.
Rhythmi immediately turns to me, "Kate, you did well on the entrance exam, right? Please help Janice! I'm not really all that good at capturing; I'm studying to be an operator, not a ranger."
I immediately agree. The poor woman is obviously not going to be able to get all of the bidoof back in one spot all by herself without a styler. It's really the least I could do for her. Plus, I'm going to be a ranger one day, and this is the type of stuff rangers do for citizens!
"There's no need for what's-her-name to do it!" Oh Arceus please don't let it be who I think it is... "I'll be able to capture ALL the bidoof by myself!" Yep. It's Keith.
"Really Keith? Her name isn't that hard to remember!" Rhythmi yells in annoyance.
"Hmph. Maybe I'll remember her name if she captures more bidoof than I do. What do you say, Nate?"
"It's KATE!" I screech angrily. "And you're on!"
Thus, our race to capture all of the bidoofs begins. I try to pace myself by only capturing one bidoof at a time so that I don't end up overwhelming myself and wasting more time. I'd say I'm making good progress. The first two catches were easy, and I captured them in a matter of seconds. The third one was hiding behind the school and was another easy capture. I finally approach the forth one and release the capture disc. Unlike the others, this one actively seeks out the capture disc itself when attacking, and that costs me precious time. Just as my styler shows that I finally captured the somewhat aggressive bidoof, Keith starts laughing.
"Ha! I got five of the bidoof, so you must only have four! I win!" he brags.
I roll my eyes in annoyance and pass the bidoof over to Janice who takes them to their penn. Sure, I'm not too thrilled about losing, but at least I helped Janice. I guess that's not too bad of a start to becoming a good ranger.
Just as I turn to leave, Keith stops me, "Listen, Kate, you're actually not too bad of a ranger. Your skill level is, like, sixty percent if mine, and that's pretty good for a newbie around here."
Recognizing the backwards comment and the fact that he actually knows my name, I spare him a "thank you" before turning away again.
"I'm not done," Keith says. "I think it'd be good if we became friendly rivals, you know? You're the only other ranger student in Ms. April's class, and I think that having to try and beat me is going to be a good challenge for you. Who knows, you might almost be as good as me one day. So what do you say?"
I nod reluctantly, "Sure, I guess. Friendly rivals it is."
Rhythmi mumbles something that sounds like, "And here I thought you had taste!"
Keith genuinely smiles at me, "Cool. Hey, has Keller shown you Ascension Square yet? If not, we can ditch her and go."
"And why would she want to ditch me?" Rhythmi challenges.
"She has me to hangout with now; why would she hang out with you?" Keith snorts derisively.
"Listen, you two," I interject. "Neither of you are going to be my friends if you two keep bickering like that!"
"But Dazzle started it!"
"But Keller started it!"
I shake my head disapprovingly, "And now you two are ENDING it. At least try not to be mean, okay Keith? Rhythmi?"
The two nod begrudgingly while glaring daggers at each other. I sigh. It's a start though, and I'm happy enough with that for now.
The three of us walk to Ascension Square with Keith and Rhythmi pointing out random things to me. It sounds more like a competition than actually trying to show me around, but it does give me some sort of feel for where everything is.
"Here we are!" Rhythmi announces after reaching the bottom of the stairs.
"Yup. Ascension Square: One of the most important places in our school," Keith adds.
I look around curiously. I'm assuming this place is important because of the statue; there's nothing else here!
"They say that if you make a pledge here at the Pledge Stone, it'll happen. It's almost like a wishing fountain," Rhythmi sighs wistfully.
"It's pretty cool. It's said that Spenser, Joel, and the other base leaders from Fiore made pledges here!"
Now that caught my attention. I walk over to the statue, and sure enough, I see something signed by said base leaders. So famous rangers really did make pledges here...maybe I'll make one here one day. Not now though; I'll do it when I'm closer to graduating.
Since there's not much else to show me out here according to my "tour guides," and it's close to dinner time, the two lead me back to the school. Dinner is a loud affair full of more talking than eating. I don't mind though. It helps me get to know my two friends better, and I think they're starting to warm up to each other.
After dinner, Janice comes up and basically tells us it's time for lights out. The girls and I walk into our dorm, and I quickly pen a letter to my sister telling her about today before pulling out some pajamas.
"Kate, you don't need those yet. Just pretend to go to sleep for a few minutes until Janice checks up on us," Rhythmi whispers to me.
Confused, I do what she says. What could she possibly be planning?
Yeah so….I'm a little late on my updating for no real good reason except I've been exhausted these past few weeks…I blame doing last minute school stuff. I'm not done with all of it either, but I'm going to try to get another update in within the week because after that updates will be slower. You know how much school takes out of people…Anyway, I hope that the longer update is enough compensation for the somewhat long wait, and please review!
