Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or the Ranger series at all.

Chapter 25: A prank and Linda

Around this time of night, there were a few Rangers and a couple of security guards walking around, we figured that some of them were at Altru Tower keeping it safe at night time. Luana and I also decided to walk around Pueltown to make sure nothing suspicious was occurring, after we finished doing so, we went over to a small area that had some flowers, I held Luana's hand as I brought her over to the beautiful red and yellow flowers.

"This is a pretty arrangement of flowers, it looks so beautiful! I had such a wonderful time at your house, Kellyn. I hope my brother can move to Chicole Village soon, he would love it there!" Luana said as she started to blush.

"That would be awesome Luana, Terry would really enjoy Chicole Village, I'm happy you had a great time with my family! I just wanted to say that…I love you, thank you for everything that you've done." I said as I kissed Luana on the lips and started to tremble.

"I love you too Kellyn, I really appreciate your kindness and compassion. I'm so happy that you're my partner!" Luana said as she wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me on the lips.

Luana and I sat down afterwards and admired the flowers as the breeze made them sway slightly, as we were doing so, I couldn't help but give Luana a big hug as we both sat there and held each other for a while as we gazed into each other's eyes.

"We're a great team Kellyn, you mean so much to me. I don't think I could be a great Ranger if it wasn't for you." Luana said as she moved closer to me, making me tremble.

"W-we really are great together, you mean a lot to me too, Luana. I think that you would be an exceptional Ranger whether I was your partner or not." I said as Luana put her hand on my cheek which only made me tremble more as I felt my face get hot.

"Kellyn, are you feeling cold? Maybe this will help!" Luana said with a smirk as she leaned in and gave me another kiss on the lips.

"I always feel so giddy whenever I'm so close to you. I feel much better now, thanks Luana." I said as Luana grinned.

"That's sweet! We can walk around Pueltown once more to look for anyone out of the ordinary. It's only 10:30 so it's still early. We can go when you're ready!" Luana said as we both got up, locked our arms and walked around Pueltown.

After we observed several different areas in Pueltown, Luana and I decided to walk down Union Road. Even though the area was dark, I felt much safer now, especially because Luana was with me. As we were walking though, I saw someone about ten feet away in the trees that was wearing an Eevee mask, I instantly felt like I was going to faint, even though Elliott and his cohorts were sent to an offshore island from what I last heard and this person didn't appear to have anything in their hands, it was still scary how we nearly got killed.

"L-Luana, do you see that person? They're standing in those trees over there, wearing an Eevee mask, do you think that Elliott and his pals had more people working with them?" I said in a worried tone.

"I see where they're standing just barely. This person can definitely be a threat and I could see Elliott and the other two having other people in the Ranger Union helping them out." Luana said as we started to run, though the person in the Eevee mask jumped out before we could pass them, as they took the mask off, revealing a Ranger with brown spiky hair. Even as the mask was off and the Ranger didn't seem to have an angry expression, I was still absolutely terrified and I hid behind Luana as she got into a fighting stance, ready to protect me.

"Hi Kellyn, hi Luana, don't worry! I just wanted to play a funny prank on you two, I didn't mean to scare either of you, sorry about that!" The Ranger said as I saw Luana scowl, which made the Ranger start to back up as Luana towered over him and got in his face.

"That was a prank? Elliott tried attacking us with poison around this same area and you decided to lurk around in the trees while wearing a mask?! Are you sure you didn't mean to scare us?" Luana said as the Ranger started to tremble slightly.

"I was trying to not be scared of walking here late at night, Elliott almost killed us and it scared me when I saw him with the rope and poison." I said as I calmed down.

"I-I heard about something with a Ranger wearing a mask, I was out of the Ranger Union at the time but I heard about it from some other Rangers. I'm…I'm very sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. Please don't hurt me." The Ranger said as Luana went back to my side.

"It was an…interesting prank, I'm not mad though. Tell all your Ranger buddies not to do a similar prank, it was a traumatic experience for me." I said.

"Y-yes, I understand, I'll let all of my friends know. Thank you and once again, I'm sorry!" The Ranger said as he ran off while Luana wrapped her arm around my shoulder.

"Kellyn, this is another reason I love you, you're very understanding. Let's continue to the Ranger Union, we can talk with Sven and Wendy if they're still up." Luana said as we continued walking to the Ranger Union and headed inside.

As we entered the Ranger Union and headed to Sven and Wendy's room, we squeezed their Eevee toy as the door opened immediately. Wendy answered right away as she had a big smile on her face.

"Hi guys, please come in, we just had some dinner a little while ago after a relaxing day! Please sit down anywhere you guys would like!" Wendy said as we entered their room which was very similar to ours in design, minus the loveseat which was replaced with a large sofa which we all sat down in. Another slight difference was the wall color, ours was plain white while theirs was yellow.

"Hello Wendy, it's good to see you! That sounds nice, Luana and I had some food to eat at my house!" I said.

"It was delicious, we were thinking of doing some quests today and were going to pick up some decorations for our room, but we weren't able to as we spent some time in Vientown before heading to Kellyn's place. I enjoyed it!" Luana said with a smile.

"That's great! I'm glad you two had fun, I was heading back to our room after I ate my dinner to see how Linda was doing and I saw a Ranger wearing an Eevee mask come running up the stairs, he almost knocked me over! What was that about?" Wendy said.

"That Ranger decided to play a cruel joke on us where he hid in the trees similar to how Elliott did. It was a bit scary for me but we told him to inform his friends to not do the same thing. Is Linda okay? She's usually with Marcus." I said.

"That's very disrespectful of that Ranger to do that to you guys, especially considering how Elliott was almost able to kill you two if the both of you weren't so fast. Linda is mostly fine but she's been feeling rather sick lately, it worries me that she could be working herself too hard. What do you guys think?" Wendy said.

"We're not worried about that Ranger, but we appreciate your concern! As for Linda, we can all see how she's doing tomorrow. She might not be our Operator but she's still important, I hope she isn't stressing herself out. By the way, where's Sven? I know you said that you both had dinner a little bit ago, but is he here?" Luana said.

"We can see how Linda's doing tomorrow, that's a great idea! As for Sven, he's actually out trying to capture a Pokémon! He told me to stay here because it's a surprise and I'm worried he might get hurt." Wendy said.

"Wendy, I know you're worried, but Sven will be fine, he's a very capable Top Ranger just like you! I find it odd that he's out trying to capture a Pokémon this late, especially because most Pokémon in the area are asleep by now. Maybe he'll be bringing you flowers or something instead, either way, I would say that sounds romantic to me!" I said.

"You're right, Sven will be back soon whether he's bringing a Pokémon or not!" Wendy said as the door opened and Sven walked in with a chocolate shaped like a Chatot.

We all looked at each other and started to laugh considering that we thought Sven would be back much later than expected.

"Hi guys, it's nice to see you two! Sorry I took so long Wendy, one of the few stores still open had these giant chocolates and I figured I would get one of them for you, especially because I know you love chocolate!" Sven said as he handed the chocolate to Wendy.

"I was worried about you! Thank you for the chocolate, I can't wait to have some! Would you guys like a piece?" Wendy said as we both politely shook our heads.

"Thank you Wendy, we appreciate it! We're still from the food we had earlier, you and Sven should enjoy it together! Luana and I wanted to stop by and see how you guys were doing before we headed to bed." I said as Wendy gave all of us a piece, which we took and ate.

"Thanks Wendy! Kellyn and I were wondering if the two of you would like to head to Pueltown with us tomorrow to pick up some decorations, then we would take them back here so we can decorate our rooms and head out to do some quests which you guys can do with us if you two would like! Afterwards, would you guys like to head to the Chroma Ruins to investigate the pathways that were inaccessible? They may have been cleared since no one spoke about them recently. What do you guys think?" Luana said happily.

"That sounds awesome, we'd love to get some decorations with you guys as well as help out some citizens. We can do it like how we usually do, which is when we go to a town and split up with our partners. I heard that those pathways are now accessible, but we can still explore there tomorrow!" Wendy said.

"I like how that sounds, it would be fun to hang out with Kellyn and Luana! We need to help out some citizens, plus making this room look better than it already is would be great! Exploring those ruins sounds awesome!" Sven said.

"We love hanging out with you guys too! We'll wake up early and get some breakfast so that we won't delay you guys, though you two don't need to wake up early if you two decide on sleeping a bit. We'll be up at around 9 A.M., you guys can join us at that time if you'd like." I said.

"We will, though you guys certainly don't take long to eat breakfast! We'll enjoy being with you guys!" Wendy said.

"No problem, we'll be headed to bed now, good night guys!" Luana said.

"Good night!" They said as we exited their room and entered ours.

As Luana and I put on the light switch, I went ahead and got my pajamas while Luana entered the bathroom, I was able to quickly change as I put my uniform in the dresser and climbed into bed. After a few minutes, Luana exited the bathroom in her pajamas while she went ahead and put her uniform in the dresser and took off the light, climbing into bed after doing so.

I was drifting off to sleep when I felt a hand reaching up to me, though this time, the hand touched my cheek. Within moments, my head was turned towards Luana, who gave me a big smile as she happily gave me a kiss on the lips.

"You thought I was going to scare you, right?" Luana said with a smirk.

"I did, you're really good at doing that!" I said as Luana got closer to me, which made both of our faces nearly touch.

"Don't worry Kellyn, whether you're scared or not, I'll still keep you company." Luana said.

"I love how that sounds. Good night Luana, I love you." I said.

"Good night Kellyn, I love you too." Luana said as I drifted off to sleep with our hands intertwined.

When I woke up, I saw that Luana was already dressed in her Ranger uniform, at first I was wondering why she was up so early until I quickly jumped out of bed, got my Ranger uniform and went to the bathroom, changing off within a minute as I finished my business as I brushed my teeth and washed my face, making sure I was ready to go. As I opened the door, I was face to face with Luana, who had a smile on her face as I jumped back in surprise.

"AHHH! Good morning Luana, that was a terrifying way to make sure I stayed awake! We're not running late, are we?" I said as my heart continued to race as Luana giggled.

"Good morning Kellyn, I figured I had to scare you a little bit! We're on time, right now is only 8:52 A.M. so we can head to the cafeteria and wait for Wendy and Sven to arrive. I only woke up a few minutes before you, but I went ahead and got dressed anyway. I was going to wake you up but you looked so adorable sleeping!" Luana said as I gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"I'm glad we're not running late, hopefully our friends don't take too long! Also…I look adorable when I sleep?" I said as we walked out of the room and headed upstairs.

"Of course you do, Kellyn! You're always adorable!" Luana said as she wrapped her arm around me and made our way to the cafeteria.

As we headed inside, we noticed that while Sven and Wendy weren't there, Linda was there and she was crying as she was finishing her toast. Luana and I walked up to her concerned as she continued to cry.

"Linda?! We heard that you've haven't been feeling too good. Is there something we can do to help?" I said as Linda looked up at us, tears streaming down her face.

"H-h-hi guys, please s-sit down." Linda said as she continuously wiped away her tears.

When Luana and I sat down, Linda immediately grabbed our hands as she stopped crying and sniffled as she put her head on the table.

"Linda, please tell us what's wrong, we don't like seeing anyone cry." Luana said as Linda looked back up at us.

"O-okay, I've been feeling sad because I don't think I'm a great Top Operator like Marcus, I help out Wendy and Sven but I'm not good." Linda said as she looked away from us.

"Linda, why do you feel that you're not good? You're a great Top Operator, just like how Marcus gives us advice or any useful tips we didn't know, you most likely do something similar and help out Sven and Wendy when they're on missions or quests." I said.

"Kellyn's right, you're a Top Operator because you're good at what you do!" Luana said.

"Y-you guys…you guys are right…thank you, sorry about making you two worry so much." Linda said as we both went over to her and gave her a hug.

"It's no problem at all, Wendy and Sven were really worried about you too! They mentioned you being sick as well. Is everything okay?" I said.

"Well…I've been feeling very weak lately, I don't feel like eating or anything and most of the time I'm helping Rangers out or cleaning the Operators' area. I don't know what it is, but I don't want to take a day off of work." Linda said as she wringed her hands while Luana and I looked at each other.

"Linda, if you don't take a break off of work, you'll have problems with your leg just like what happened with me on the Cargo Ship, I had some leg problems because of all the work I was doing and if wasn't for Luana, I'm certain I would have taken a long time to heal, even longer than the week that Dr. Rhythmi said it would have been." I said as Luana wrapped her arm around me.

"Kellyn's right, you have to rest and get at least a day off. There has to be more Top Operators in the Ranger Union, I remember Rhythmi was getting her training done in Fiore, we can ask Chairperson Erma if she's headed back here so she can help you out!" Luana said happily.

"You guys would do that for me? I don't want to be a burden to anyone." Linda said.

"Linda, you're not a burden at all, we'll be more than happy to ask Chairperson Erma, but before we do that, we'll get Sven and Wendy." I said as we both got Linda and put her in the middle in case she tried to leave.

"B-but, what if they get mad?! I appreciate your concern guys, but I really don't think I need a day off, I…I don't need to take a break!" Linda said as she attempted to struggle with us, though we weren't letting her go.

"Linda, you need to relax, it's not good for your health. We're going to get Sven and Wendy." I said as I called Sven on my Styler, hoping that he would pick up, thankfully, after a few rings, Sven answered right away.

"Hi guys, good morning! Sorry, we just woke up. I hope you and Luana weren't waiting for too long! Where are you guys?" Sven said.

"Hi Sven, good morning, we're inside the cafeteria with Linda and we need your help as she feels that she's not a capable Operator." I said.

"What?! We're on our way!" Sven said as he hanged up.

Within a few moments, we saw Sven and Wendy enter as they rushed over to us, while Linda tried hiding between us so they wouldn't see her.

"Hello guys, we're glad to see you! We ran up here as fast as we could once we heard Linda was with you two!" Sven said.

"Linda, you really don't think you're a great Operator? That's just not true, you're an amazing Operator! You've helped out Sven and I when we're on missions, such as when we had to rescue a Wailmer and its family from being captured by Team Dim Sun on the Cargo Ship, or when we were lost in Vien forest and you gave us directions since our Styler's map wasn't working! You're important to all of us, Linda!" Wendy said as she gave Linda a hug.

"B-but, aren't the other Operators better than me?" Linda said.

"Oh Linda, I would say that all the Operators are equal, every person at the Ranger Union is important." Luana said.

"Linda, you're a very capable and dependable person, that's why you're a Top Operator, you're good at what you do!" Sven said.

"Also, Sven and Wendy, Linda feels as if she doesn't deserve any time off. I think asking Chairperson Erma would be a great idea, wouldn't you guys agree?" I said.

"You're right Kellyn, that is a great idea, let's go ask her right now!" Wendy said as we all headed to the third floor, with Linda in the middle of us.

When we headed to the third floor, we saw Marcus cleaning up some drawers filled with paperwork while Chairperson Erma was checking the status screen of the Top Rangers, which were only the four of us.

"Hello Chairperson Erma, we're sorry to disturb you! As you can see, we have Linda here with us, she's been very stressed out lately and she feels as if she doesn't deserve a break because she doesn't think she's a competent Top Operator. If Linda does get some time off, would Rhythmi be returning from Fiore? We figured her training would be done but we were hoping to ask." I said as Chairperson Erma listened intently.

"Oh my, Linda, you're an amazing Top Operator. You've saved Sven and Wendy from peril and kept calm while doing so. I say that you're pretty extraordinary! You'll be getting a break for two days, I hope that is sufficient, if it's not, I can give you two extra days if you'd like. Rhythmi told me that she'll be back in about a couple of days, at the most, a week, which is when she'll officially be a Top Operator, I'll have Marcus assigned to be your Top Operator since I know he was initially going to be a temporary one for you and Luana. Rhythmi will be Keith's Top Operator when they both get back." Chairperson Erma said happily as Linda started to tear up while Marcus walked over.

"That would be wonderful to have Marcus as our official Top Operator. Thanks Chairperson Erma!" Luana said.

"T-thank you Chairperson Erma. I've been talking with Marcus about my inadequacy because I felt that I wasn't able to be of any use to the Ranger Union. He's been very helpful though I still feel that I'm simply a burden. Maybe a couple of days of relaxation will be what I need." Linda said as Marcus gave her a big hug.

"Linda, you're awesome, if any Operator deserves a break, it's you. I think you should spend some time with Kellyn, Luana, Sven and Wendy! They'll definitely help you relax!" Marcus said as one of the phones went off which he ran to answer.

"Thank you everyone, I would love to spend time with all of you. Chairperson Erma, is it possible I can take my vacation now?" Linda said.

"Of course you can Linda, what the four of you could do is have one day where Kellyn and Luana spend time with Linda, while tomorrow, Sven and Wendy relax with her. You two can do your usual Ranger work as necessary!" Chairperson Erma said.

"That's a great idea Chairperson Erma, we were actually hoping for all four of us to go as a group and get some decorations, do some quests and then head to Chroma Ruins! We can definitely spend time with Linda today while Sven and Wendy spend time with her tomorrow, is that okay with you guys?" I said.

"That sounds like fun! We can all head to the marketplace and get some decorations as a big group and when we're done, we can go and do our quests! Let's go get some breakfast!" Wendy said.

"Great, sounds like we're all ready. Thank you so much Chairperson Erma, we appreciate it! Bye Marcus!" Luana said as they both waved, we all headed downstairs shortly afterwards and went into the cafeteria.