"I heard you got yourself into some very dangerous stuff, Skye."

I took a deep breath to forcibly calm myself down. Here I am, finally given two days off for some R&R to go home to just kick back and relax. No duties, no calls, no operations to go on. Just some simple relaxation that I had been looking forward to for months now, and not even an hour after I got home, bathed myself clean, kept my pokemon fed and happy, barricade myself in my room to just Netflix and chill while munching on some junk food (there's no Netflix in this world, but you get my point), my older brother just had to spoil my fun.

I turned around from my comfortable little castle of pillows and blankets that I had made in my room, cuddling with the smaller members of my team like Cotton, Emi, and Hawk, and spotted my older brother leaning against the wall, arms folded across his chest and looking at me as if demanding an explanation.

I folded my own arms across my own chest and looked at him squarely in the eyes.

"In case you had forgotten, Mr Gym Leader, I am a Ranger. Getting myself in dangerous situations is in the job description. Do I need to print out the job description for you to read from the Ranger's recruitment site? Do you want it printed on A4 or A3? Maybe A2 so that the font is easier for you to read?"

My brother dragged a palm over his face.

"You know what I'm talking about, Skye. I know you like flying, I understand because I enjoy the same sensation too, but there are many jobs out there that allows you to fly to your heart's content while not requiring you to risk your life on a daily ba-"

"Now hold it right there." I cut off sharply. "Unless you want me to literally stomp out of the house right now, don't go any further than this. You should know by now how this will end. Either shut up and join me in my drama marathon, or just walk out of my room."

"You were facing against an aerodactyl of all things." My brother hissed out. "And Team Rocket? You are not ready to face something like that at your age!"

"That was a one-off thing. That case had been handed over to STAR to investigate because Team Rocket was involved and also because the nature of the case is beyond the Ranger's jurisdiction. I'm no longer involved in that stupid case, so your point is now invalid." I motioned with my hand for him to zip it. "I'm not going to argue with you any further, we had been through this ever since I finished my conference since like, what? Three or four years ago? Now, if you would kindly walk out of that door and close it behind you, I have a drama series to finish watching. Don't ruin my rare day off for me."

"Skye." Falkner said with a sigh as he sat down opposite me so that I cannot ignore him. "Listen to me. This is for your own good."

I raised a finger at him in warning.

"Don't. Say that bloody phrase. You know how much I hate that phrase." I can see Cotton and Emi looking at our exchange with worried glances from my peripheral vision. Hawk is frowning and is getting a little restless. Cotton had gotten used to the argument I tend to have with my older brother, but this is a first experience for Emi and Hawk.

Honestly, I really do not want to show such an ugly sight to my pokemon at all, but right now I'm too frustrated to be bothered about it.

"Well, how else am I supposed to say it?!" My brother's voice got a little louder in exasperation. "Mum's gone. Dad's missing. If anything happens to you or Ciel, how will I answer him when he comes back-"

"Then maybe he shouldn't have left us to fend for ourselves before doing the whole hocus pocus disappearing act!" I snapped back. "Greatest bird pokemon master my ass! If it wasn't for the photo hanging in the living room I wouldn't even remember how he looked like!"

"Don't speak about Dad in this manner." Falkner warned, voice going threateningly low.

"I will say anything about him however I fucking want." I hissed back. "He was barely at home to even come to check on us and Mum when he was still around. I can count the number of times with the fingers on both my hands. I don't even remember what his voice sound like. After Mum died, when was the last time he came to visit us? When I was six? I'm sixteen now, Falkner. That's a freaking decade and there's still no fucking news about him. Not even a single hair."

Falkner's expression fell a little.

"Maybe he got into an accident and… you know…"

"He was a Gym Leader." I called out on his bullshit. "The previous Violet City Gym Leader before you. The greatest bird pokemon master. You of all people should know how hard it is to put down a Gym Leader. You will need at least a small army to even have a chance. Even if he really did get assassinated from the slew of enemies he had made as a Gym Leader or got into whatever crap accident, there's no way he would have gone down quietly. Someone would know. Someone would have found out or saw it. I bet my Ranger badge that he is somewhere out there in the world gallivanting around, conveniently forgetting that he actually has three children waiting for him at home. We didn't even move to a new house ever since he left! There's no way he cannot find us! He didn't even put in the effort to make a single phone call to check if we are alright! IF WE ARE STILL FUCKING ALIVE! ACCEPT IT! He LEFT us."

"Dad is not that kind of person."

"Your blind idolism of him is really the world's eighth wonder, not that I know what the other seven wonders are." I shifted myself away so that he is not blocking my view of the TV screen that is currently playing out the drama that I was watching. "Out, Falkner, before this evolves into another screaming match."

"Fine, then we shall not talk about him. Let's talk about your career choice." Falkner moved to sit in front of me once more. I could only look up at the ceiling, close my eyes, take a deep breath and mentally count to three before facing him once more. Not this discussion again.

"Don't make me slap you."

"If one slap is all it takes for you to actually listen to me for once, I will gladly take it." Falkner countered. "Very few trainers last for more than a decade in STAR or in the Rangers. Anyone who permanently stayed on as regulars either die in the line of duty or they were forced to retire from some crippling injury. Only less than 5% of the regulars get out of there with their limbs and lives intact and had the chance to retire and I'm not even talking about how you are now in the 1st Regiment of all regiments you could have transferred to."

My brother put both his hands on my shoulder in a last-ditch attempt to convince me, voice turning gentle.

"Skye, please, listen to me. Do a career switch before something happens to you. If you like to fly so much, I'm sure I can pull some strings to get you the perfect job. So, please, stop endangering your life like that."

"And then?" I challenged quietly, trying very hard not to let my tears leak out. This is an argument we had been through many, many times ever since I had finished my conference and started looking for a job. I'm sick of this.

"How many times will you force me to quit every single one of my job before you are satisfied? Until you place me behind a desk and be a paper pusher for the rest of my life? Is that your definition of safe?"

"Skye-"

"I wanted to be in STAR." I continued, ignoring the trembling of my voice. "They only accept the best of the best from every year's conference. I was a shoo-in after my performance in my first and only conference. You said that the job is too dangerous. We argued for three days and three nights about that, remember?"

There was a brief pause as we both stared at each other, neither party backing down, but my older brother managed a reply.

"I do."

"I compromised." I said as a tear or two starts to slide down my face, lips quivering. "You said you don't want me to sign myself up for such a dangerous job because I was only twelve and I wasn't prepared to do something like taking down Rockets on a daily basis. I compromised, Falkner. I turned down that fucking offer that the STAR commander himself had personally send to my email three times, because I listened to you. The type of offer that thousands of trainers can only dream of but never receive, I got it three times, sent by the STAR commander himself."

"I know, but-"

"I settled for the Rangers because it is supposedly safer." I mocked. "You agreed, then throw another fussy fit when I applied for the 9th Regiment because specialising in Ground and Mountain Search and Rescue Operations is also very dangerous. You remember what I asked of you when you said that?"

"… You asked me to train you."

"Damn right." I hissed. "Because in your eyes, if I'm always that weak little girl that always needed saving, then I might as well learn from the best bird pokemon specialist in town on how to protect myself, right? Learn from Violet City's prodigy, the next budding bird pokemon master, the youngest trainer in Johto's history to ever be crowned as a Gym Leader. It was another compromise we had. You teach me and I learn from you, then you drop the topic altogether like it never happened. We agreed on it, even did a pinky promise."

"It's a different ball game if you are now in the 1st Regiment." Falkner stood firm in his position, which got me really furious. "Skye, listen to me-"

"YOU LISTEN TO ME FOR ONCE!" I roared back, finger jabbing violently at his chest. "YOU ARE PROTECTIVE OF CIEL AND I, I GET IT! I FUCKING GET IT, OKAY?! YOU ARE A DAMN GOOD OLDER BROTHER, I KNOW! YOU ARE THE BEST OLDER BROTHER IN THIS WHOLE DAMN UNIVERSE! LIFE HAS BEEN HARD FOR ALL OF US EVER SINCE MUM DIED AND OUR SHITTY DAD UP AND DISAPPEARED! CIEL AND I WOULD HAVE STARVED TO DEATH IF IT WASN'T FOR YOU AND I REALLY RESPECT YOU FOR WHAT YOU DID FOR US! YOU ARE SCARED OF LOSING CIEL AND I AFTER WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR PARENTS, I UNDERSTAND! BUT GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK! YOU DON'T DICTATE HOW I WANT TO LIVE MY OWN LIFE! YOU DON'T DICTATE HOW CIEL WANTS TO LIVE HIS OWN LIFE! WE ARE OUR OWN PERSONS AND NO ONE, NOT EVEN YOU, HAVE THE RIGHT TO DECIDE WHAT'S BEST FOR US!"

I took a pause, still breathing heavily after my outburst.

"I really love my current job, Falkner." I whispered, my voice oddly hoarse. "I love being a Ranger, to be able to fly freely. To be able to save lives. To help maintain the delicate balance between humans and pokemon, makes me feel like I am part of the world's mightiest heroes or something."

I used the back of my hand to wipe away a few tears that had slid out.

"It is the same as how you love your job as Gym Leader and being a cop at the same time. We both live hectic lives and we rarely had time to spend with each other because of it, but we both love our jobs. I had listened to you. When it comes to my career, I had compromised many times because of you so stop. Stop deciding what's best for me because what you think is best for me may not be what is best for me. Birds can never soar high in the skies if they are always caged in this-" I gestured a small little box with my hands. "-small little golden cage like a little pet."

"That's not what I mean, Skye. All I-"

"But that's what your actions are all about, wasn't it?" I bit back bitterly. "No matter how much I try to prove to you that I can take care of myself, your definition of safe will always be locking me up in a cage where you can watch me, where I can never fly out of your wings. Why else-" I pointed to the numerous medals and awards I had earned throughout my Ranger career, sitting in a glass cabinet at a corner of my room. "-do I try so hard? It was to get you to acknowledge me. I've flown more than 300 missions and I never failed a single one. What did I get in return? Your acknowledgement? No. What I got was the constant insinuations that I will always be the weak little girl that needs your protection."

I stood up, picking up my keys, wallet, and phone with me before stomping out of my room, Hawks, Emi, and Cotton trailing after me.

"Skye!"

My brother calling out my name got me to stop for a moment. I decide to leave him something to think about while we both take some time to clear our heads.

"You cannot protect me forever, Falkner. No one can give anyone else that kind of promise. Life's short, let me live it however I want it to be while I still have the chance to do so. Don't let me die a pathetic and unfulfilling death like Mum did. I don't want to be like Mum, I don't want to be that type of woman who hinges her happiness entirely on another guy. That useless guy who wasn't even there by her deathbed in her last moments."

I turned back to face my older brother.

"I don't need a cage to protect me. I can fly on my own."

With that, I left the house and headed for the big building at the back of our house where we let our pokemon fly freely, which we refer to as the aviary. Come to think about it, I haven't told Falkner about Aria's addition to my team. He doesn't seem like he knew about Aria joining my team from our earlier argument. He probably came straight to my room right after he read my message that I came back home, bypassing the aviary altogether.

A topic of discussion to take place at a later date. He might burst a blood vessel if I told him about Aria right now.

I muttered my own greeting to my team when they spotted me entering the aviary. I recalled everyone back to their pokeballs except for Crown.

"Find Ciel." I told Crown the moment I climbed onto his back. Sensing my mood, Crown gave me a comforting nudge with his head as a show of support before taking off into the air with a single flap of his massive wings, exiting the aviary through the special exit at the top of the building that is specially designed for our pokemon's use should they need a quick exit for whatever reasons. We trust them enough to not wander away from the aviary irresponsibly. Even if someone did, the older ones here will keep them in line and drag them back kicking and screaming if need be.

My long-awaited day off in a long while and another argument took place.

And my brothers wonder why I am a workaholic and rarely come home. Really, they should go get their IQ checked.


"Another argument with big bro?"

"That obvious?" I replied as my hand unconsciously tried to wipe away the non-existent tears away from my eyes. My little brother sat down opposite me across the table at a fast food joint that I had told him to come meet me at after he's done with school. Unlike us, Ciel decided not to be a pokemon trainer, so he goes to school for higher education. He's still undecided whether he should walk down the path of becoming a pokemon scientist or researcher. In any case, that line of work is something which Falkner wholeheartedly support and approve because it is safe.

"Your puffy red eyes told me everything I need to know." Ciel shrugged as his pidgeotto made himself comfortable on the floor beside Ciel's chair, chittering away with Emi and Cotton.

"Should have put on some makeup before I left the house then." I gritted out. "I definitely look like an ugly mess right now."

"Nah, you are still the city's number one beauty. Anyone who said otherwise must be blind." Ciel said through a mouth full of food as we both dug into our burgers. "Heard from big bro that you got yourself into the 1st Regiment. Congrats, sis."

"Thanks." I replied. "Do you have enough pocket money to spend? Anything that I need to help you with or need to know?"

"No for both. Big bro gave me more than enough to spend. He needs to stop shoving money into my wallet." Ciel said in a casual manner, even opening his wallet for me to see. It is indeed filled to the brim with money. Typical Falkner.

My eyes caught sight of the family photo Ciel had put in his wallet. It was shortly after Ciel was born, when our mother was still alive, when our father was still around from time to time. The three of us all have the same blue hair that we inherited from our father. I had the longest and silkiest hair which I usually tie into a ponytail so that it wouldn't get in my way during missions.

"Hello? You still there?"

"Yes. I'm still online." I mumbled as I pushed Ciel's offending hand away from my face that he obnoxiously waved about in front of my eyes. "Movie later? Falkner ruined my drama marathon."

"Only if you get salted popcorn."

"Sweet popcorn are the real thing." I insist. "Salted popcorn is-"

"Finish that sentence, and a civil war is the least you need to worry about."

"I'm the one paying for the tickets."

"You are the one choosing which movie to watch. I should at least have the rights to choose what kind of popcorn we are eating later."

"Cheeky brat."

"Stingy hag."

"Hag? Oh, it's so on, you rascal."


AN: Since people are asking, yes, RftS's world is happening in the same world as RE, and also all the other pokemon fics I have. Hope this clears things up.

Hope you guys enjoy the story thus far.

Character and Pokemon list:

Name: Skye Bale, 16, Female

Known affiliation: Indigo Ranger Force, Johto Region, 9th Ranger Regiment, 1st Ranger Regiment

Rank: Staff Sergeant

Code Name: Zephyr

Pokemon Team:

1. Pidgeot (Crown), male

2. Gliscor (Glide), male

3. Skarmory (Dia), female

4. Crobat (Beats), male

5. Jumpluff (Cotton), female

6. Dragonite (Tino), female

7. Noivern (Echo), male

8. Emolga, (Emi), female

9. Hawlucha (Hawk), male

10. Sigilyph (Cosmo), female

11. Aerodactyl (Aria), female

Name: Falkner Bale, 25, Male

Known affiliation: Johto Police Force, Johto Thirteen Pillars, Violet City Gym Leader

Pokemon Team:

1. Pidgeot (Majel), male

2. Noctowl

3. Fearow

4. Dodrio

5. Honchkrow

6. Xatu

7. Crobat

8. Skarmory

9. Delibird

10. Togekiss

11. Swellow

12. Staraptor

13. Pelipper

Name: Ciel Bale, 13, Male

Pokemon Team:

1. Pidgeotto (Queenie), female

Name: Walker Bale, 55, Male

Known affiliation: Ex Violet City Gym Leader, Ex member of Johto Thirteen Pillars

Pokemon Team:

1. Pidgeot

2. Skarmory

Name: Jacky Marsh, 19, Male

Known affiliation: Indigo Ranger Force, Johto Region, 1st Ranger Regiment

Rank: First Lieutenant

Code Name: Venom

Pokemon Team:

1. Scolipede

2. Crobat

3. Tentacruel

4. Nidoking

5. Skuntank

6. Venasaur

7. Toxicroak

8. Weezing

9. Dragalge

10. Beedrill

Name: Amy Rose, 17, Female

Known affiliation: Indigo Ranger Force, Johto Region, 1st Ranger Regiment

Rank: Sergeant First Class

Code Name: Powergirl

Pokemon Team:

1. Furret

2. Pidgeot

3. Lopunny

4. Ursaring

5. Wigglytuff

6. Exploud

7. Blissey

8. Tauros

9. Miltank

10. Cinccino

Name: Adam Clive, 20, Male

Known affiliation: Indigo Ranger Force, Johto Region, 1st Ranger Regiment

Rank: Sergeant First Class

Code Name: Nightmare

Pokemon Team:

1. Houndoom

2. Honchkrow

3. Umbreon

4. Weavile

5. Shiftry

6. Sableye

7. Greninja

8. Hydreigon

9. Pangoro

10. Krookodile

Name: Rufus Grandell, 21, Male

Known affiliation: Indigo Ranger Force, Johto Region, 1st Ranger Regiment

Rank: Master Sergeant

Code Name: Torrent

Pokemon Team:

1. Poliwrath

2. Kingdra

3. Dewgong

4. Gyarados

5. Feraligatr

6. Slowking

7. Crawdaunt

8. Floatzel

9. Jellicent

10. Golisopod

Name: Pyral Furnes, 38, Male

Known affiliation: Indigo Ranger Force, Johto Region, 1st Ranger Regiment

Rank: Lieutenant Colonel

Code Name: Cremator

Pokemon Team:

1. Typhlosion

2. Arcanine

3. Charizard

4. Magmortar

5. Magcargo

6. Alolan Marowak

7. Torkoal

8. Infernape

9. Emboar

10. Pyroar

11. Chandelure