*watches anime cut scenes to an online video game*
WHAT? I wait 8 months for the english dub and it totally sucks!
….oh hi guys! 0/0
*minimizes anime tabs on com.*
We're back and about to start Kate's first day as a ranger with another 'extra' little something. You'll see momentarily. By the way, I got an overwhelming amount of responses to the previous chapter and I thank all of you! And also, thanks for recommending me to other people…its really sweet of you guys. I try the best I can to write the Almia story and it's great to know you appreciate it. :D
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Sitting under a tree, Kate strummed her guitar and relaxed in the sunshine filled forest. Wind carefully brushed past. Pokemon were serene. It was a perfect day to practice music and just…well…kick back, take it easy. There was nothing that needed to be done and nothing else to do. It was those kinds of lazy days that, in some ways, Kate missed. She was happy to just play music all alone under the trees.
Flash!
But a blink of the eye and the light in the forest disappeared. Everything was dark. A chill ran through the once calming breezes. Even the pokemon were gone. Kate was completely alone. And suddenly feeling scared, dreading what was yet to come.
"He's coming…"
A pool of darkness opened up in the ground a few feet away from where Kate sat. The same one that she'd seen in her dreams so many times.
"He's…coming….."
Kate tried to scream for help…but her voice…..it….it was gone! Each attempt to say something, anything, was in vain.
Flash!
Now everything was completely black. Kate was standing amongst….nothingness. Shadows swirled around on the ground with the howling wind. Kate wanted to run, to get the hell away from the horrible place. But her feet…they were stuck were they were.
"Kate…"
This voice….it was different than the one from before…but Kate knew it….she knew it all too well….
"No…" Her thoughts whispered.
"It's been awhile Kate….come back to the darkness…"
Kate tried again to scream, to hope that she could escape the darkness. Her voice was still gone. Giant, dark, sinister hands appeared above Kate. Slowly, they started to descend and surround her.
"I'll be meeting you again soon Kate…sooner than you think…."
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Kate woke up with a start, gasping for breath and shivering as she sat straight up. Same room she was in….her voice intact….she was alright….no darkness or anything. What a relief! But…her nightmare occurrence had been increasing lately. And then there was that nightmare as well. What did it mean?
"Sissy!"
Megan burst into the room. She was happy but pouted to see Kate wide awake.
"I was gonna surprise you…" Megan huffed.
"Not today, little sis." Kate laughed, getting out of bed.
"That's right! Cause you're a ranger now!" Megan cheered.
Ah, that's right! Yesterday had been the graduation ceremony and today was the first day of being a ranger! Today Kate would go meet up with the Vientown Rangers and join their team! It would be an exciting day, no doubt. Kate got ready and all set to go (in record time!), meeting her parents downstairs, who before we just boasting about the new house.
"Oh…there's our ranger…she…she's so grown up!" Tessa sniffled.
"Mom…" Kate sweatdropped.
"Just be careful out there, ok? And make sure you visit occasionally." Tessa blew her nose into a towel nearby.
"Of course I will!" Kate promised.
"Maybe sometime you can take me out on a real ranger mission!" Megan exclaimed.
"Kate would love to, sunshine!" Carter said before turning to Kate and whispering, "Don't take you sister out on a mission or your mom will freak."
"Gotcha." Kate whispered back, suppressing a laugh.
Kate looked at her family one last time. They were great. REALLY great. These people supported her dreams and goals even though she wasn't their real daughter. For a split second, Kate had been hoping her mother would be as proud as the others were.
"I'm off!" Kate charged right out the door and out into the sunshine.
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"YAY! It's so good to see you Sparky!"
Just as Kate stepped on Vientown soil, Luana and her buneary, Fluff, ran out to meet her. She seemed as bubbly as ever.
"I was getting a little excited and ran off to meet you!" Luana cheerfully told Kate. "Let's get to the base! Everyone's waiting!"
Luana started running for base, with Kate close behind. Vientown, Kate noticed, hadn't changed at all. Wonderful place to start out as a ranger actually. Though it looked like a place of little action. And action was what Kate was hoping for.
"Come on! Let's go inside!" Luana started pushing Kate as the ranger base came into view.
"Hey! Luanna…!" Kate tried to break free but Luana was a lot stronger than she looked.
"Bun! Bun bun!" Fluff cheered on, bouncing alongside.
BAM!
Luana managed to crash Kate right into the front doors. Man did it hurt her nose….
"Oops." Luana sheepishly let go. "I guess I got carried away…aw man I hope you're not nervous or anything because of me…."
"I'm fine! And I'm actually more excited than anything." Kate reassured with a grin, though maybe she was a little nervous.
They opened the door and strode right inside. All of the people Kate had met before we in the main lobby. The guys were talking, the operator typing away at her desk, pokemon were around doing their own thing and the mechanic wiping off a tool (which one it was, no idea). When Kate was inside, they stopped what they were doing.
"Sparky! It's been too long!" Crawford called out.
"Long?" Elaine raised an eyebrow.
"Ok not THAT long…" Crawford sweatdropped.
"It's good to see you back at Vientown base, Sparky." The operator said.
Kate had a feeling THAT nickname wasn't going to die….
"Congrats on graduating!" Barlow said.
"We heard about your heroics at the school! Impressive work getting those tangrowth to calm down!" Elaine told her.
"It wasn't ALL me. Keith captured one too." Kate said.
"Ah yeah! Red's off in the Fiorre region for his assignment. Would've been great to have him here too." Crawford remembered. "That reminds me…for lunch today, Sparky, I'd like…"
"Don't go scaring her on the first day!" Luana whacked him.
"Kidding! Kidding!" Crawford held his hands up in defense.
Kate laughed. Though she knew Keith was probably at his own base about the same time. Where in Fiorre did he get assigned? And what sort of first day bring him as well?
"Come on guys, lets get down to business." Barlow said. "Sparky, the bathrooms in the back. We've got the ranger uniform for you all set and laid out!"
"Thanks Barlow!"
Kate went to the changing room and went from her casual clothes to ranger uniform. It was amazing for her. Wearing an actual ranger's uniform…that was downright awesome! And she did look pretty darn good in it. After a moment of admiration over the new uniform, Kate left the room and back into the base.
"Sorry that we had to second-guess on the size. We figured you were about Luana's height." Barlow told her.
"Fits great! I love it!" Kate said.
"You wear it great! The ranger look is definitely for you!" Elaine complimented.
"Well now. The time's come." Barlow placed something in her hands. "Here's your capture styler. It officially makes you a Pokemon ranger."
Whoa…unbelievable! Granted Kate got to use one in Ranger School…but this was her very own one. Kate tried to focus on what Barlow was saying about the capture styler but she was too overjoyed from the experience.
"Anyways…" Kate snapped back to reality, where Barlow was still speaking. "ALRIGHT PEOPLE! Fall in!"
The other rangers and mechanic assembled into a line.
"Granted you know us…but its tradition for introductions." Barlow said. "People, time to say hello to Spar…Kate! Perhaps it was fate that we met early on the 1 day internship."
Spar-kate?
"I'm Barlow, the leader of the Vientown base. My partner pokemon is Punch, my makuhita." Barlow gave a fist pump to Punch, who returned it. "The jokester in the middle is Crawford. He's been here for a few years along with Buddy."
Buddy, the budew, was at Crawford's ankles. Seemed chipper at the intro.
"Then the dark-haired girl is Luana and her buneary's fluff. Nice white teeth, friendly to everyone, scatterbrained at times. But, heads up, not the best cook. Just this morning she incinerated toast. AND our toaster." Barlow went on.
"Which I now have to rebuild…" Elaine sighed as Luana sweatdropped.
"Here's Elaine, our mechanic whose love life is only in machinery. And she prefers taking things apart, blowing them up, demolishing over assembling them. But don't worry! You can trust her with your stylers!"
Attention was turned to the operator.
"And this here is our operator, Becca. Always smiles and is ready to help out. She won the styler-recharing competition for the last three years." Barlow explained. "And that is our entire team, Sparky. I'm expecting big things from you!"
"So what's the first mission?" Kate asked.
"Already spoken like a true ranger!" Barlow chuckled. "You'll be delivering papers around town with Crawford."
…..ok…..not the most exciting mission…..but it'd do. Kate smiled and accepted the mission, no problem. She and Crawford gathered the newspapers from the counter and went off into town.
"Hope you don't mind but I wrote about you in today's issue." Crawford told her.
"Wait…do YOU write the Vien Tribute?" Kate asked, getting curious.
"Some of it." He boasted. "Usually the humor page but every now and again I slip in an extra article or two."
As they walked through town, Kate got to know all of the people who lived there. It was nice to meet Little Tim again, after the entire 'bidoof mauling' happened. Big Bertha and her four hyper-active kids welcomed Kate and even offered milk to the rangers (Kate accepted, having skipped breakfast). Other members of town were happy to receive their paper, happy to meet the new "rookie ranger". Chicole Village was the second town and delivering papers was just like in Vientown.
"Sissy? Why are you delivering newspapers?" Megan questioned when Kate and Crawford visited her family. "Cool looking rangers like you should be doing cool missions…"
"Crawford, Kate's still a kid so could you watch out and make sure she…." Tessa was about to say.
"MOM…" Kate groaned.
"Don't worry! You can count on me!" Crawford chuckled.
Within a little while, the papers had been delivered and the two rangers were about to head back to base. At least till Crawford stopped in his tracks.
"Shoot…" he snapped his fingers. "We still have Mr. Woodward."
"That explains the one newspaper left." Kate said. "Where's his house?"
"The red-roof one. But the man's always gone during the day, spending time at the beach." Crawford replied.
"To the beach!" Kate started to race west.
"Hey no fair! You got a headstart!" Crawford called, starting to break into a run.
Getting to the beach was nothing. Kate knew the way, same as the last time she came. And like Vientown, nothing really changed. It was still a beautiful, quiet place.
"CHIPPA!"
"Huh?"
Before she knew what happened, something slammed right into Kate. She was knocked back a few feet when Crawford came down the steps.
"What in the world…?" He scratched his afro.
"Pachirisu!" Kate exclaimed.
The pachirisu from before was rubbing against her shoulders. She seemed to miss Kate….a lot. And Kate certainly did miss the sweetheart as well.
"I remember you. You're the student from Ranger school."
From up on the beach came an old man, joining the scene. Kate sat back up, stroking the pachirisu in her arms.
"Morning Mr. Woodward." Crawford greeted, handing him his newspaper.
"Thank you Crawford." Mr. Woodward turned back to Kate. "Congrats on graduating school! This pachirisu's probably been waiting. Every day since I last saw you, she's been crossing the beach time and time again. Almost as if searching for someone…"
"I guess the old saying is true. Meet someone on the beach, you become good friends. Buddy and I met here." Crawford pet Buddy on his head.
That gave Kate an idea.
"Hey pachirisu? How about you be my partner?" Kate asked her.
"Chi! Chippa!" Pachirisu cheered.
Had to be a yes. Whether the sign had been the ecstatic response or the tight hugging.
"Great idea! I don't think we'd be able to pull her off of you again…" Crawford joked.
"Me neither." Kate sweatdropped. "How about we call you…hm….Chia?"
Pachirisu, now Chia, accepted the name with pleasure. Chia scrambled on top of Kate's shoulder, ready to go.
"Let's head back to base!" Crawford said, starting to dash off. "Race you home!"
"Hey now YOU'RE cheating!" Kate raced after him.
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"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT PACHIRISU DOING HERE?"
Elaine had ducked behind the operators counter, wielding her wrench as if it were some sort of weapon.
"Um…you ok Elaine?" Becca asked with caution.
"I went down to the beach some time back and it electrified me! That thing HATES me!" Elaine cried.
Chia rolled her eyes and got off of Kate's shoulders. She came over to the operators desk where the surprised Elaine kept guard.
"I think she was mad about you using a magnet on her so Kate could escape." Luana suggested.
"Her name's Chia. And she's my new partner pokemon!" Kate introduced.
"Chi!" Chia held its paw out, as if to shake.
Elaine stared at it for a moment, suspicious. She hesitated before finally shaking Chia's paw and patting her on the head.
"Alright she stays." Elaine muttered.
"Anyways, good job on the first mission Sparky." Barlow told Kate. "Better call it a day for now. Your room's on the second level. Third door on the right."
"Thanks Barlow!" Kate, with Chia at her side, took up Barlow's offer and went off to see her new room.
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Weird dreams followed up by a crazy day and a new partner! Welcome to the team Chia! Hopefully you and Elaine won't have any more 'disagreements'…
Read, review, get ready for the next chapter! Update won't be too distant in your future! Thank you!