"Hey, Mrs. April, can I ask you a favor?"
"A favor? What is it?" It was now hours past the time everyone went to sleep with Piplup still in Hitasu's bed.
" Hitasu, He isn't like his peers"
"How so"
"There's little to no information about him, so I tried calling Professor Oak, the one who recommended him to find out who he is"
"Do you think he lied about the recommendation?"
"That wasn't It, Professor Oak willingly recommended him, His Name is Hitasu Aquamari, But is also known as Hitasu Oak"
"You're saying Hitasu's his son!?"
"Adopted son, He found Hitasu is Seafoam Cave when he was seven and has been taking care of him since then. He holds a connection with Articuno and was initially raised by it"
"So why recommend him?"
"According to Samuel, Hitasu is a good kid who has been helping him with his research as well as helping take care of all the Pokémon from the ones Blue transfers without a second word, Despite Blue being the Trainer they got more excited from Hitasu's presence than Blue's. Outside of that, he's been known to help Pokémon outside of the ranch"
"I see, So what was the favor?"
"I want you to make sure Hitasu Isn't treated specially, as your student I'm sure you won't but I wanted to make sure,"
"I understand," She said looking down at a screen seeing Hitasu covered in scratches and bruises with his hand gripping the styler."Is he okay?"
"It seems that he's just exhausted, a simple trip to the nurse will have him feeling better."
Mrs. April had now been carrying the child to the nurse as Erica began to downstairs wondering what the noise was. With her half-asleep, it took a little bit to notice
"Mrs. April? What happened to him?"
"Hitasu'll be fine, He just overworked himself practicing to use his styler, although he'll most likely have to charge it"
"He did say that he didn't want to be a burden in class, I guess that's what he meant"
"Hitasu, so take it up to your dorm"
"Alright," She said heading back upstairs.
"This is a new student?"
"Yes, Hitasu Aquamari"
"Well, he seems to have a high fever, was it due to jumping into the ocean?"
"I don't believe so, He was raised in the cold making him resistant to it"She explained," Although he usually wears his hat."
"I see, but it doesn't seem like he was severely injured, some ointment and rest will do him good," The Nurse said taking out some bandages as well as healing ointments and applying it upon his injuries"Allow him to rest for the night and he should be fine by the time school starts"
It had now been morning as Hitasu began to open his eyes seeing the many bandages on his body
"It's about time, c'mon you're lucky you haven't missed breakfast yet," Keith said looking slightly disappointed
"Huh?"
"You really shouldn't overwork yourself, especially to the point of collapse, You had to be carried inside last night"
"I-I did!? Wait where's Piplup!?"
"First of all, yes, second of all Piplup's fine, He stayed inside while you went outside" Piplup climbed up his bed holding his hat and dunking it onto his head before climbing inside.
"How are you feeling?"He asked looking up as it smiled.
"You should probably get ready and put on your clothes, and get your student Styler as well," Keith told him
"Oh right!" He hopped out of bed grabbing clean clothes from his bag and heading into the bathroom. Minutes later Hitasu had his wetsuit on as well as normal clothes over them.
"Well there's still time to eat breakfast, come on or we'll be too late"
"Oh right!" Clipping his styler to his shorts he began to follow Erica and Keith to the cafeteria"Sorry if I kept you both waiting to eat"
"Don't worry too much about it, almost all of my family oversleep I'm used to it"
"It is your first full day, so I wouldn't care, just don't get in my way"
"You could be a little nicer"
"O-oh no worries, Blue treats me the same back home"
"Blue? As in the gym leader!?"
"Well I mean, It's all he ever brags about"
"That reminds me, how exactly do you know Professor Oak, and what did you mean by you were born weird," She asked referring to the other day
"O-oh about that...W-well..." He started
"Yeah?"
"W-well we should be heading to the line so we can get breakfast!" Hitasu quickly changed the subject being told not to reveal his origin and that only the Teachers should know.
"What's with the sudden topic change? Your acting kind of suspicious" Keith gave a slight glare as Hitasu nervously backed away
"W-what are you talking about"
"Well if you aren't suspicious...Then why won't you tell us"
"I just can't, okay!"
"Well, why not?"
"I was told not to" That was as much truth as he could tell, most likely due to the fact a Ranger school can be one of the biggest targets for spying, It happened before and Hitasu's safety was Samuels largest concern
"Jeez, you don't have to get so offended"
"Sorry...Just, please stop asking"The meal itself was quiet, Hitasu tried not to make eye contact peering up every once in a while and quickly facing a different direction when they caught his glance.
" Good Morning, Class!"Mrs. April said to the small array of students."As I'm sure most of you are aware, today we're going to get a lesson taught by a Pokémon professor who flew all the way here today"
Hitasu froze but started to feel relieved, there was no way Samuel would forget which ranger school he sent Hitasu to, so It couldn't have been him.
"Hello kids, I'm sure you all know me," A voice said coming into the room
And...He forgot which school he sent Hitasu to as he tried to hide from being noticed. Professor Oak headed towards the front of the class seeing Hitasu as they both froze awkwardly
"A-anyways, your lesson for today is for you to befriend certain Pokémon, without your stylers, as a Ranger, it's important to keep in mind that your Styler might run out of power, your next best options will be to run, or befriend it without the Styler. Any Questions?"
Erica raised her hand first like a popper sitting patiently at her table along with Keith and Hitasu.
"You" He pointed towards Erica
"Is it true that you know Hitasu?" Samuel froze and Hitasu was trying to hide.
"Well...T-the truth is..." He hesitated
"You aren't about to lie to children, are you?" Keith began adding pressure
"Yes, I do know him, He is my adopted son" While yes he wanted to keep information about Hitasu private, as long as he didn't bring out information about his true origin, he would be fine. Hitasu however was now hiding his face not wanting to be noticed."Besides, he's not the first one I recommended to come here, Claus too I recommended"
"So you do know each other!" Erica had exclaimed with everyone looking in his direction.
"Now that's quite enough about that, We all come from different places, there's no reason to get riled up"
"Now each of you, head outside with your teams and head into the region to befriend a Pokémon without your styler, however, each of you will get a Pokémon to help protect you from danger" He began to explain throwing out numerous Pokéballs to show Pokémon from multiple regions, Now everyone without a partner, feel free to choose whichever you want"
One by one, each group went up with each of their members choosing a Pokémon, Keith chose a Buizel, and Erika chose an Emolga.
"Now choose wisely, these aren't just rental, they'll be with you until the end"
"Nice to meet you Buizel"
"Nice to meet you as well Emolga," Erica said with everyone else greeting their new Pokémon
"Well it looks like you all and becoming quite acquainted with your partners, Now it's time for you to head to your new locations to befriend a Pokémon," Professor Oak said tossing out several Pokéballs with bird Pokémon coming out, Pidgeot, Altaria, Braviary, As well as other Pokémon that could lift people such as Metagross, Magnezone, and Dragonite.
Once outside Samuel sent the Pokémon and teams out to their destined areas, Hitasu, Keith, and Erica were sent to the Puel town docks due to their overall choice of Pokémon, Piplup and Buizel were good in the water, and Emolga was strong against Water-types.
"This is Puel Town...Kind of sad..." Keith began to say with the dark skies
"Not to mention with the oil stench, I can't even smell the sea"Hitasu began looking disappointed, he loved the sea, this was making him start to dislike the town in total.
" Guys, remember we have to befriend a Pokémon, Or else we'll get a zero in the grade book"
"Right," Hitasu began looking to the ocean, he was on edge, almost as if he heard something."Hitasu? You okay?"
"I need to hurry, Keith, Erica come too!" Hitasu swiped off the clothes over his wetsuit placing them in a waterproof bag and jumping into the ocean as well as placing a breathing device for seafloor travel.
"If he needs our help it must be important" Erica had said jumping in after him with Keith after that placing a device in their mouths as well.
"What is it?" Their voices had been slightly distorted.
"Down there, look" A large net was caught upon a Wailmer with several uniformed figures. They swam closer to the figures with Hitasu, almost personally offended, shouted towards them"Hey! You let that Wailmer go!"
"Gah! Who the Peck are you!?" They were surprised with the obscurity of the waters hiding their faces.
"Pokémon Rangers!" Erica came out from hiding with Keith embarrassed
"We aren't Rangers yet...We're in training, why do you two have to be so extra" He grumbled hearing what they had said"Wait...Did you just say 'Peck'? Why?"
"Well, we have to keep it safe for the kids!"
"Oh for the love of...I'm surrounded by idiots"
"Piplup use Peck to cut the net!" Hitasu called out lifting his hat with Piplup rocketing out like a torpedo tearing apart the net"Great job!"
"You brats! Go play Ranger somewhere else, kid"
"I already told you, We're the real deal!" Erica said once again
"No. We aren't"
"Why do you have to ruin our fun!"
"Because this is serious!" Erica and Keith continued to argue with Hitasu swimming ahead with Piplup to save the Wailmer.
"Go away, I don't like you following me!"
"Not happening! You can either swim away without Wailmer, or I'll end your operation here"
"I think I'll take my chances!" The figure lunged back at Hitasu pulling the device out of his mouth and destroying it leaving him stunned and unable to breathe throwing a net with heavy stones on the ends over him causing him to sink without any chance of breathing. Piplup was able to tear off part of their clothes with a final attack and seeing Hitasu would drown if it didn't hurry. Peck was used, again and again, the net wouldn't tear, not to mention the stones were too heavy to lift.
Piplup called for help, but the other two were too distracted, even their Pokémon were too involved. It seemed hopeless until a shadow emerged from the surface and a Sharpedo broke through the net carrying Hitasu to safety. He was unconscious, but now able to breathe.
"Good thing I found ya before it was too late, Now then, You two need to take this more seriously" The figure from above was Claus swimming towards Keith and Erica, "If I hadn't been here, Hitasu would have drowned because you were too distracted" He looked disappointed, Let's get back to the surface so we can discuss it"
"So, care to explain what happened?"
"Well, We were trying to befriend a Pokémon, but suddenly Hitasu froze telling us to go into the ocean. Some figures had been trying to capture a Wailmer, and I guess they ended up getting away"
"They must have gotten the Wailmer...I should have been here sooner" It was behind them that the Wailmer used the low ground from the shore to begin licking Hitasu's face.
"Or they forgot what they came for" Erica admitted with Hitasu starting to wake up coughing up water.
"W-wailmer? Glad to see you're okay"
"Stop being so reckless, we're a team now, don't forget it," Keith said helping him up off the ground"Too bad we couldn't see the one who attacked the Wailmer"
"All I was able to get was a piece of their clothes, Some kind of symbol" Hitasu showed it off to them.
"Can't say that I've seen it before, But if its anything like Team Rocket or Teams Aqua and Magma, then we could have a potential threat"
"Right, Professor Oak warned me about Team Rocket a while back"
"You know Samuel too?"
"I guess you missed out on the fact that Hitasu is his adopted son"
"You're Samuel's adopted son!? Was I gone for so long that I never knew?"He was stunned"How long ago was it?"
"Five years I believe"
"Well...The good news is that Hitasu befriended a Wailmer" He said seeing Wailmer nuzzle against Hitasu's body"Now that I think about it, Hitasu's an odd name, how come you're called that?"
"He named me Hitasu due to it being Johtoian for Soak and my water-based activities."
"Well, that would make sense, after all, he's the inventor of the Pokédex"
"But we should head back, we need to warn them about those people" Keith brought up with everyone talking casually.
" Claus, why are you here anyway?"
"They sent Pokémon Rangers to all of the groups to check on their progress," He explained with Hitasu putting his clothes back over his wetsuit now almost completely dry.
Once back at the ranger school, it was easy to say the class went well, every team had a Pokémon by their side, Hitasu, however, was more concerned about the Wailmer being attacked.
"Mrs. April! We encountered some people trying to capture a Wailmer against its will with nets!" Hitasu immediately said not worried about his grade then handing her a cloth with a purple emblem on it.
"What!? Don't tell me you tried to fight them! You could have gotten hurt"
"We're fine!"
"What are you talking about, they nearly drowned you" Keith added in causing him to blush from embarrassment
"Well, at least I wasn't arguing over something stupid! You two were fighting over the fact that we're in ranger school while I was trying to stop them from taking Wailmer" Hitasu wasn't the type to get annoyed at others, but when others' actions cause negative effects towards Pokémon, it set him off.
"You're right. I should have been taking a better look at the problem, after all, Can't have ya get ahead of me can I"
"I'm sorry too, I should definitely work on what I say"
"Well, today was an overall success, We'll look into the people, but for today everyone is free to do what they want!"