First thing that happened? Keith nearly dropped Kate.

"Aaaah!" Kate threw her arms around Keith's neck for support, triggering a blush on his face. He then set her down on her feet. "Vien Forest's on fire?" Kate exclaimed. Crawford nodded. "Well, then, come on!" She exclaimed, running out the door. "Let's go, Keith, Crawford, Luana!"

The four Rangers left and Rhythmi and Yumiko (the other Operator) got onto their laptops, ready to help.

When the team got there, they didn't see any fire—that was probably farther in. However, the entire forest was lit by a red light from the fire. Suddenly, Kate saw a small figure nearby.

A girl.

"Gracidea!"

Gracidea immediately threw her arms around Kate. "Big Sister…" She sobbed. "Gracidea, what are you doing here?" Kate asked angrily. "It's dangerous!"

Keith stared. He'd never seen Kate this angry. Well, maybe except for the one time she had tried to punch him repeatedly.

"I was playing…" Gracidea sobbed. "With Mirimu… But then, the big fire started and we got separated…" Kate knew who Mirimu was; she was the daughter of Big Bertha and Little Tim.

"Gracidea," She said. "Go home. Tell Mom and Dad you're alright. Change out of those burnt clothes and brush your hair. I'll find Mirimu, Ok?"

Gracidea nodded, her blue eyes shining with tears. "Be careful…" She cried. She then ran out of the burning forest. Kate stood. "Luana, come with me to find Mirimu, please?" She asked. Luana nodded.

"In that case, Keith and I will go deeper in and try to find where the heart of the fire is." Crawford confirmed. Keith stared at Kate, but then shook his head from certain thoughts and nodded. "Right." He said. "Tempo!"

His Buizel, Tempo, nodded eagerly and ran off beside Keith, Crawford, and Crawford's Partner, Budew.

Keith looked back at Kate as he ran.

.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

"Mirimu!"

"Mirimu!"

Kate and Luana were searching everywhere for the little girl, but to no avail. She wasn't anywhere to be seen—

And then it hit Kate.

Seen.

"Luana, shush." She said. "Listen carefully." Luana looked confused, but nodded and fell silent.

"…"

"…lp…"

"He…lp…"

"Help!"

Kate ran to the source of the sound. "Mirimu!" She called. "Over here!" The voice screamed again.

Kate shifted a bush to find the small girl, tears rolling down her face. "It's OK, Mirimu." Kate soothed. "You're OK now." Mirimu threw herself onto Kate and burst into tears. "I want Mom… I want my mom…"

Kate picked up the girl and went back to Luana. "You found her!" Luana sighed in relief. "Thank Arceus!" Kate nodded. "I'm going back to the entrance to get her out of here." Kate ran off with Mirimu in her arms.

When she got out, she heard a bellow.

"MIRIMU!"

Big Bertha was charging towards her, with Little Tim following behind. Kate handed Mirimu to her. Big Bertha looked at her thankfully. "How can we ever thank you?" She asked quietly.

Kate blinked. Then she smiled.

"I'm just doing my job," She said, "As a Pokémon Ranger."

And then she ran back into the fire.

.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

Back in the forest, the fire was spreading.

"Luana, I'm going to find Keith and Crawford," Kate said, "You stay here—and be careful!"

Luana nodded. "Roger!"

Kate ran across a bridge and deeper into the fire. She ran around searching until she saw jets of water hitting places where the fire was worst. She ran to the source to find Tempo and Budew using Water Gun and Water Sport. "Where're Keith and Crawford?" She asked loudly; the crackling of the fire was high.

Tempo and Budew shared a few words in Pokémon, then Tempo called, "Buizel bui!" and ran off. The two Pokémon had decided that Buizel would lead Kate while Budew continued with putting out the fire.

A few minutes later, Kate saw Keith talking urgently to Crawford. "Keith! Crawford!" She called. "Kate!" Keith exclaimed. "Spiky!" Crawford yelled.

Kate ran up to them, and then doubled over, panting hard. "About time, I've been looking all over." She gasped. "If I hadn't met up with Tempo, then I'd probably still be looking…" Keith nodded at Tempo as he jumped onto Keith's shoulder.

"Never mind that, we need a Blastoise!" Crawford ordered. "They can use Rain Dance, so we can use that to put out this fire. I'll help the Pokémon, so you two go capture it! There should be one by the river!"

Kate and Keith nodded. "Blastoise is a Water Type, right? Lyrical!" Kate called. Lyric jumped onto Kate's arm and scurried up to her shoulder. "Tempo, stay and help with the fire!" Keith commanded. Tempo nodded and ran back to where Budew was.

Kate and Keith ran down a forest path. "What were you talking with Crawford about?" Kate asked. Keith went slightly red, but it was unnoticeable from the scarlet light of the flames. "I was asking if I could go back and help you with finding the Mirimu girl." He mumbled.

Kate stared at him as they ran. Finally, they reached the river and stopped. "…Thank you, Keith!" She finally said. Keith looked up, his eyes widening. "That makes me really happy. Thank you!" Kate went on, smiling.

"…This isn't the best time for that." Keith said embarrassedly. "Anyways, look…" He pointed to see a large Blastoise lounging by the water. "Oh, right." Kate said, still smiling. "I'll capture it since I've got Lyric…" She signaled for the little Pachirisu to come. Lyrical nodded and jumped into the top. It turned yellow and charged with electrical power.

Three.

Two.

One.

Zero.

"CAPTURE ON!"

The Blastoise became severely paralyzed by the Electric effect, since it was a Water Type. When it was captured, it lumbered over to Kate. "Ok, this way!" She called and the two Rangers dashed back to Crawford.

"OK, good!" Crawford congratulated. "Now, use the Rain Dance where the fire is worst!" Kate nodded. She walked over to the huge, blazing fire in the center of the forest. It was so violent that her pigtails blew behind her. Then, she spoke.

"Blastoise," She breathed, "Rain Dance."

"BLASTOOOOOOOISE!" Roared the Pokémon. It raised its arms to the red sky, and gray clouds formed.

Drip.

Drip, drip.

PSSSSSSSSSSSSH~~~

Rain poured so hard from the sky that it was as if they were under a waterfall.

Kate was immediately drenched. "Aaaaaaah, Arceus!" She cried. She then felt something be thrown over her head. A jacket.

"Dang it." Keith muttered. He had taken off his jacket and put it over them both. "C'mon, let's—" The rain stopped.

"…Well," Keith commented, "That was quick." Crawford skipped over to them. "That was great, guys!" He laughed heartily. "Although now I'm soaked to my underwear!"

"HEEEEY!" Luana shouted as she ran towards the group. She was also drenched. "I saw it! And felt it! IT WAS AWESOME! …Oh, Keith, why is your jacket off…?" Keith still had his jacket over him and Kate. He quickly removed it and tried to wring all the water out, but to no avail. Suddenly, Kate spoke up.

"Who's that guy?"

"What guy?" The others said, but suddenly they saw a man crouched over at the bushes, spying on them. Kate and Luana pounced on him.

"Hey!" The young manshouted in protest. "Let—go—of—me!" Keith walked up, his hands behind his head and a silly grin on his face. "No use fighting, man." He smiled. "They're stronger than they look. Believe me, one almost tried to punch the living heck out of me." Kate beamed at him as she put the man in an armlock.

"K, let's get this guy to the Base and what is that thing?" Crawford yelped.

Over where the man had been hiding was a red machine like the one Kate and Keith had found.

"Keith, look!" Kate exclaimed. "Yeah, I see it…" Keith said in wonderment. Kate handed off the man to Luana and walked up to the machine. She turned a dial and the machine sprayed out some kind of chemical onto her arm. "Ow!" She screamed. "Aaaaaaagh, that must be a chemical burn!" Keith swore. "Elaine will take care of it… That thing must have shorted out from the flames… Come on." He helped Kate up as she nursed her burned arm. Crawford picked up the machine with a lot of effort.

"Alright, let's go. You're coming with us, bub," Luana snarled.

.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

When they got back to the Base, the first thing they saw was Rhythmi running out to meet them. "Kate! Keith!" She cried. "I was so worried… Oh, Arceus, what happened to Kate's arm?" Kate's arm was red and swelling a bit. "Never mind, get Elaine!" Keith ordered.

Suddenly, the Partner Pokémon were running towards them.

"Chipa!" Lyrical cried.

"Buizel bui!" Tempo roared.

"Budew!" Budew chirped.

"Bun. Buneary!" Luana's Buneary whined.

Lyrical hopped onto Kate's shoulder. "Chipa… Chipa pach…" She cooed worriedly. Kate stroked her gently. "I'm fine. Don't worry, Lyric." Kate reassured.

Keith stared at her kind and gentle expression. Then he looked down to see Tempo grinning slyly at him. "Buizel…" Tempo grinned. "…What?" Keith muttered so Kate couldn't hear.

"Bui—" Tempo pointed at Keith—"Zel—" He made a heart sign with his paws— "Bui bui!" He pointed at Kate.

Keith went scarlet. "I THOUGHT YOU WERE ON MY SIDE!" He yelled. Tempo just smiled and nodded.

"Buizel."

.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

"…And that's got you done, girl."

Elaine had just finished bandaging Kate's arm. Kate blushed. "T-thanks, Elaine…!" Sha stammered. Elaine just grinned coolly.

Meanwhile, Barlow had commanded that the suspect, which had gone rock-silent, be tied up a smidgeon on the tight side. "OK, what shall we call you?" He said in a dangerous voice. "How about Mr. Arson, since you nearly burnt down the forest? Or Mr. Mute, since you don't talk?"

"WORST JOKES EVER!" Crawford wailed.

"How 'bout Ollie? Since he's covered in oil." Luana suggested cutely. The man's clothes were oil stained.

"…What the heck… They're better than mine." Barlow sulked.

"And now for that machine…" Elaine picked up a sledgehammer.

"I wanna take it apart." A gleam came into her eyes. "ELAINE!" Barlow exclaimed nervously. "Are you sure you know how to do it properly?" He asked. Elaine smiled.

"Of course I do. You just carefully study the angle between the main cylinder and the engine and then HIT IT WITH THE SLEDGEHAMMER!"

Kate and Keith were now holding Elaine back.

Barlow cleared his throat. "Kate, Keith." He said. Kate and Keith grunted to show that they could listen and keep Elaine off the brink of insanity at the same time.

"You both kept a cool head in the face of fire. For that, you guys are now on the Ranger Rank Scale of 1!" Barlow grinned.

"WHAT?" The two shouted and let go of Elaine, who promptly fell to the floor and tried to army crawl towards the machine. Kate and Keith noticed, though, and tackled her again.

"Yeah, Barlow!" Keith grinned.

"That's great!" Kate smiled.

"JUST LEAVE THE BADGES ON THE COUNTER, WE'LL GET TO THEM LATER!" They screamed together, still holding Elaine back.

"…Um, sure… I'm going to call Professor Hastings and get him over here as soon as possible." Barlow said worriedly, and then made for the phone.

Still trying to keep Elaine under control, Kate and Keith met eyes. Then they grinned at each other.

But they then resumed the task of holding Elaine back, because she was pretty strong, and they didn't like the way she was holding that sledgehammer.