*flooded with new replies & readers*

ACK! LIFE PRESERVER!

*climbs ontop a Blastoise*

You readers….sniff….I'm so proud of me and of you! And I'm so happy you guys love my fanfic! So sweet of you all! Which is why I post this chapter as an extra update for ya, to say thanks.

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With a yawn, Kate stepped into the base. She groaned a little as the headache struck, making her remember the damn machine was still taking up residence inside the base. But what was really bothering Kate was the smell. Luana had obviously been burning something again…

"I thought Becca was supposed to do breakfast this morning…" Kate said, trying to wake up.

"I am. I was going to get started but then I smelled something burning. Figured Luana already got started." Becca told her, confused.

"Better get the fire extinguisher ready." Barlow and Crawford said in unison.

At that point, Luana burst through the front doors. She seemed awfully freaked out so early in the morning.

"GUYS! I saw…there was…Vien Forest….there's….ah…thing…..smoke….aaaah!…" Luana stammered, still in shock.

"Luana calm down!" Crawford ran over to her. "What's wrong?"

"Fire! Vien forest! Now!" Luana finally got the words out.

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Luana, Crawford and Kate ran into the woods. Smoke had only formed around the entrance so the flames had to be deeper. But no doubt about it….Vien Forest was in flames. Big time. The plan, according to Crawford, was to head down to the middle of the forest where fire was the worst. There were bound to be wartortle to help put the fire out.

"Hold on!" Kate stopped. "I…I think I heard someone!"

Everyone paused. They listened, hearing two or maybe three screams. But Kate knew one of them all too well.

"Oh Arceus…..my sistser's in here…." Kate gasped, starting to run into one of the heavily burning areas. "Guys, go on ahead! I'll catch up in a few minutes!"

She managed to dodge several trees that were burning up all too quickly. Lots of flamed logs stood in the way but Kate dashed around. She had to get to her sister. Even if it meant going against Barlow's orders….

"Do anything reckless or unsafe….you'll be answering to ME."

It was pretty deep in but Kate heard the screams and whimpers close by. One of the cul-de-sacs in the trees revealed three girls huddling together, terrified. And Megan was one of them.

"Sissy!" Megan started to run over, the other girls close behind.

From above, Kate heard a snap. She looked to see a strong branch caving under the fire and started to fall. With Megan right below.

"MEGAN!"

Shielding her sister, Kate had leapt over and stood over Megan. Kate felt the branch scrape the right side of her face, by the ear, and down her shoulder. It stung like crazy…no doubt going to leave some serious burns that'd take awhile to heal off. But Megan was fine.

"What are you DOING out here?" Kate questioned, worried sick.

"We…we were playing in the woods when the fire started….but we couldn't see and got lost…" Megan sniffled, clinging to Kate's leg.

Kate looked over at the other girls, trembling like crazy. Kate recognized one of them; Bertha's youngest girl. The other Kate had seen maybe once or twice before but wasn't entirely sure.

"Let's get you out of here." Kate sighed.

Megan and the unfamiliar girl piggy-backed on Kate's back. The weight wasn't terribly bad but Kate hoped it wouldn't slow her down. Bertha's kid was carried in Kate's arm. After a second to prepare herself, Kate charged back into the flames. She barely escaped the pathway when the entrance to it was blocked off by flaming lumber. Kate got the girls out of the dangerous part of the woods, setting them down where it was more safe.

"Just go straight and be careful." Kate instructed. "I don't want you coming back in here till its safe."

"But…what about you?" Megan asked, shaking still.

"I've got a fire to take out." Kate grinned.

She charged back into the fire, quickly making it back into the extremely dangerous part of the woods. In no time, Kate reached Luana and Crawford who were trying to rescue pokemon and put out the flames. They were happy to see Kate was back.

"Great to see ya Sparky and….hey what happened?" Luana saw the burns Kate took.

"Couldn't take the heat? Gah….right, this isn't the time for jokes…" Crawford sighed.

"Had a little trouble getting the girls out. But I'm alright." Kate told them. "What's our plan?"

"Well my styler's not working right due to the heat. And while wartortle's are helping, this fire's spreading too fast for us to handle. If we don't get more water, we might even be in trouble…" Crawford explained.

"My styler says there's a blastoise nearby. I'd get it but I need to hold things together here." Luana added.

"No problem. I'll go capture it and bring it back here." Kate said

"Alright. Go west and to the river." Luana instructed.

Kate nodded and ran off. Kate easily found the river, in an area of the forest that had yet to burn. The blastoise was sleeping by the reeds, blissfully unaware of the danger that lurked nearby. Capturing the pokemon was a breeze. Didn't even mind being captured. It ran alongside Kate back into the fire.

"Luana! Crawford! Get ready!" Kate called.

"BLAAAAAAAAAASSSTTTTT!" The Blastoise roared.

Drip. Drip drip drip.

Pssssshhhhhhh….WOOSH!

It felt like an ocean had been dropped from the sky. The rangers shrieked with joy as the water doused the fire completely as well as soaking them to the bone. Kate had to admit it was pretty damn awesome.

"Now that is the way to take care of a fire. WOOO!" Crawford shouted.

"I'll say! Kate you rock!" Luana rubbed Kate's head. "Oh hold on! Fluff! What're you up to?"

Luana raced off for a brief moment. Kate noticed that Crawford had bent over nearby, picking up something.

"Whats up?" Kate asked.

"A friend of mine likes these kinds of flowers." Crawford replied casually. "I'm glad they didn't burn in the fire."

"That's nice!" Kate agreed.

From the corner of her eye, she saw someone. A guy with wide eyes bolted away from the scene….how suspicious….

"HEY STOP!" Kate chased right after him.

The guy was quick…..of course not as quick as Kate was. She managed to run him into one of the culdesacs of the woods. The guy shook, frozen with fear. He seemed guilty about something. Perhaps about the fire?

"Hey Kate, slow down!"

Crawford and Luana caught up.

"Fluff found some of those same machines from our base, only burnt up and completely obliterated." Luana told her. "….hey who IS that?"

"I saw him trying to run away from us. Something seemed wrong." Kate answered.

"Maybe he knows something. But whether or not he does, this guy's got burns all over. Better take him for treatment." Crawford said.

Surrounding the scared guy completely, all three rangers and their pokemon started to escort the man back to their base.

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Kate had been promoted to Ranger Rank 2.

…..right after getting yelled at by Barlow. He saw the burns and assumed that she had done something dangerous (which she had). Elaine had been busy with the strange guy's injuries so it was up to Becca to help out. With a bandaid and some medicine, the operator skillfully patched Kate right up.

"Don't worry. Barlow's just concerned for the safety of his crew." Becca whispered to Kate.

Attention was then turned to the guy. Barlow had already ordered him to be tied up with ropes, with hardly any room to wriggle. For the leader, it was proof enough of him squirming while Elaine treated him and also not saying a single word. Kate was wondering what this guy was hiding…

"So are you going to tell us your name? Or shall we just give you a nickname?" Barlow questioned. "Like…..oil-stinking guy? Or forest-burning creep? Maybe something like Senor Arsonist?"

"Boss, your sense of comedy is way off…" Crawford mumbled.

"Why not something like….um…." Luana was trying to think.

"Ollie?" Elaine suggested. "He IS covered in oil."

The guy smiled but only for a second.

"He likes it! And I kinda do too." Kate said.

"Same here." Luana agreed.

"Well, Ollie?" Barlow folded his arms. "Want to save the trouble and just talk?"

Ollie said nothing in reply.

"Eh he'll talk soon enough." Barlow shrugged. "Now then. Fire's probably caused some trouble for the people in Vientown so I suggest we do some patrolling to make sure everyone's alright."

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"!"

Kate was greeted by a jumble of words as soon as she flipped the styler, a few hours later down by the beach. Rhythmi was on the other end of the call, apparently worried.

"Could you slow down just a touch?" Kate sweatdropped.

"News spreads fast around us operators and I've heard you took on a fire! And I see the huge band-aid on your face!" Rhythmi told her, manic.

"Yeah there was a slight glitch. Megan was trapped in the woods and I managed to get her out. At the price of a burn of course." Kate said.

"You saved your sister? Its so touching how much you care for her…" Rhythmi cried. "Just don't go killing yourself in the process, kay?"

"I already got that lecture." Kate shuddered at the memory.

"Hey guys!"

Keith's image popped right up, splitting up the screen space.

"I was just….WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOU?" Keith yelled, about as agitated as Rhythmi was.

Kate gave him the full-story of what happened. Keith seemed shocked over the events but, near the end, a bit worn out.

"Can't believe you took on a fire like that…" Keith sighed.

"Awww. Worried about Kate are we?" Rhythmi asked in an unusual tone.

"SHUT UP!" Keith snapped.

"Guys, I'm fine. It's a small burn and it'll heal." Kate reassured. "But it's nice to know you guys care about me. Even though we're a little farther away, you're still willing to chat like before. You two are still willing to be friends with me."

"Of course we are! You're funny, confident, a really good capturer and strong spirited! That's why I wanted to be friends with you in the first place." Keith told her, surprised she said that. "True, you're reckless but I would never ditch you! Maybe RHYTHMI would…"

"HEY! I'd never do that!" Rhythmi shot back. "Kate, we're here for you. And we always will be."

"Thanks guys." Kate smiled.

"So Keith, were you serious about what you said to Kate?" Rhythmi questioned the redhead.

"Rhythmi…" Keith seemed a bit peeved at her for some reason or another.

"Guys! Don't fight! Chillax!" Kate nervously tried to break it up, hoping another battle wouldn't ensue.

"Oh hey. Spencer's callin. Gotta run!" Just like that, Keith was gone.

For awhile, Kate and Rhythmi talked about all sorts of stuff. When it was time to go, they ended communications and Kate left back for base.

"ELAINE!"

"Come on just one screw! A tiny screw will not make a difference in this rust-bucket machine!"

"You say that while holding a chainsaw?"

"You're scaring our hostage!"

"Ok how about a tiny dent in the metal? Please please PLEASE!"

"Sparky, help us out here!"

Yep. Base sweet base it was.

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Whew. Second update today! I am on a roll with creativity! I'd probably update a third time today if my little cousins + bro weren't pestering me. But the day is young. We shall see won't we?

Read, review, and your next update shall come very soon! Thanks!