Chapter Four

Armed with the confidence of a professional Ranger, and the Styler of a regular one, Summer prepared herself for the angry Pokémon running her way. Remember, the Styler takes the attacks, not me. The Styler, not me, she thought. The Buizel and Croagunk stopped a few inches sort of Summer, and then, at some unspoken signal, leapt at her.

Summer stepped back. She saw the claws extend from the Buizel's paws, and the Croagunk's begin to glow a deadly purple as poisonous toxins began to flow to them. The Buizel swiped at her leg as it slid forward and she dodged just in time, the claws missing her by centimetres. Jumping in the space straight away, the Croagunk pulled its left arm back and did a little hop, managing to punch her chest. Summer stumbled backward with a gasp, though the Ranger uniform had protected her.

You see, the Styler and Ranger clothing are connected, so that when it gets damaged from a Pokémon's attack- which is energy based- the energy from such an attack decreases the set amount of energy points in a Styler. These points also decrease if the Pokémon attacks the energy that the Styler shoots to capture a Pokémon, momentarily stopping the flow of energy shot. As a Ranger gains more experience- which is gained every time a Ranger captures a Pokémon- the energy points increase, so that the Ranger is able to Capture stronger Pokémon that have more powerful attacks.

Quick to attack again, the Croagunk aimed a kick at her, but with a swift slide to the right, Summer was able to dodge it. Recovering from when it had missed before, the Buizel shot through the air and smashed into the Ranger's chest. Both crashed to the floor.

"Summer!" cried an astonished Ralph, worried for his new friend.

"I'm- I'm okay!" And she was. Pushing the Buizel off of her and rolling to the side, Summer stood. Out of the corner of her eye, Summer spotted the frog-like Pokémon attempting to creep up behind her, and realised that while the Buizel was recovering from its previous attack, now was her chance to capture the Croagunk. Summer spun round, startling the poison-type Pokémon. With surprising speed and skill, she drew several binding loops around the creature, and after mere seconds, it appeared to calm down. Suddenly, something was clutching on to Summer's shoulders, making her stumble forward several paces. The girl desperately tried to turn her head, and a flash of orange appeared with several deadly claws, and she realised that it was the Buizel. Thinking fast, Summer backed into a nearby tree, the Buizel taking the blow and in a mix of shock and pain, falling from her shoulders.

Spinning around once more, the Ranger aimed at the dazed creature and after a few tense seconds of hoping that it wouldn't start moving again and bright loops of energy, the Buizel was Captured.

With a sigh that released the breath she hadn't realised she was holding, Summer fell to the ground.

"Hey!" her little companion shouted, running to her. "Are you okay?"

Summer nodded, closing her eyes. "That was close, though…" Raising her right arm, she saw that only eight points of energy remained- she had had eleven when she last checked.

"Oh." said Ralph. "Your clothes are kind of… ruined."

The girl looked down, and saw that the boy with green hair was right. Her clothes were drity and riddled with tears. "Huh. So they are. I'll fix them after. Right now, I have a mission to complete."

Ralph grinned. "You're so cool. It's just… awesome."

"Hah. Thanks, Ralph!" Brushing the dust off her clothes, Summer stood, and looked at the two Pokémon Pinchers, which had been momentarily forgotten during the Capture. Both of them were staring at her with something akin to fear.

"I don't know how you did that, little girl, but…" the male said, voice trembling.

"Let's go." The female said, frowning at Summer.

Both mounted their hovering machines, which had been 'parked' at the entrance of Rasp Cavern, and flew off. Feeling somewhat cocky after her successful Capture, Summer gave both a salute as they made their hasty exit. She heard Ralph laugh beside her.

"Wow, they seemed scared of you!" Ralph exclaimed with a smirk. His expression changed to a frown as he turned to Ukulele Pichu. He crouched down, holding a tentative hand out to the electric mouse Pokémon. "Are you okay, Pichu?"

The Pichu practically chirped its happy response, twirling in a circle.

"That's good, then!"

"Right. The Pinchers guarding the entrance have run like the chickens they are, and Pichu has re-joined us. So Arley's in there?" Summer asked, summing up the situation.

"Should be! Let's go!"

"Oh, hey, wait. Should I release these two?" She jerked a thumb over her shoulder, gesturing to the Buizel and Croagunk.

"Are you kidding? They're cool! Keep 'em! Plus, they might come in handy!"

"Gotcha." She bent down, facing the two Pokémon. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out several blue berries. "They're a bit squished, but they're still Oran berries. Here." The Buizel stepped forward shyly and took one, slowly eating it while the Croagunk practically inhaled his. Summer stood. "Let's go."

And with determination to finish the mission, both headed into Rasp Cavern.

Guardian Signs

"So," Dave the Pincher said to his partner as they sailed over the clouds, "you reckon' she's the one then?"

"'Could be. But it also might be a coincidence, so I wouldn't go saying anything about it. We've just gotta see how, and if, that electrical dog responds to her. After all, I'm sure they'll both come running when Blue crashes the Tower."

"Tch. Probably. But isn't it a cat?"

"Nah, I'm pretty sure that it's a dog…"

Guardian Signs

After a short trek here, there and everywhere searching for a suitable Pokémon, Summer came upon a Stantler. After a quick Capture, she jogged back to where Ralph was waiting by a large rock.

"A Stantler? Are you sure that's gonna do the trick?"

"Oh yeah. Never underestimate the power of a reindeer Pokémon."

"Now, I don't know if you're joking or not."

"Who knows? It's a total mystery." Summer grinned. "All right. C'mon, Stantler." She caringly urged the Pokémon toward the rock, and performed the Target Clear. The rock was blasted to pieces, rubble and dust flying everywhere. Summer thanked the Pokémon as it left them.

Once the dust had cleared, Ralph said in a weak voice, "Okay. Never underestimate the power of reindeer Pokémon. Got it."

The Ranger laughed. "Okay, let's keep going."

Both continued down the path, which was growing steadily darker, where several rocks and stones littered the floor. After a few seconds of silence, Summer heard a large 'scuff- whump' sound in front of her.

Squinting into the shadowy dark ahead of her she said, "Ralph, that you? You okay?"

"I'm good!" Ralph called out. "Hey, is there a flashlight on your Styler or something?"

"Sorry, no."

"Darn."

After a few seconds, another noise broke the quiet.

"Piiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!"

Summer frowned. "Ralph? What's wrong with you? You sound like Murph on the toilet back at the Union."

"It's not me!" The young boy cried, indignant.

"Oh. Then what-" A faint glow appeared beside her, and as it grew brighter, she realised that it was Ukulele Pichu. It was somehow using its electrical energy to make itself glow, making itself a light for the two humans.

"Pichu, that's great! Thank you!" Summer praised the Pokémon, which looked mightily pleased with itself.

The group walked forward, Summer taking the lead this time in case of- Summer stepped forward, but her foot found thin air rather than stone- well, in case of that. "Aaagh!" She cried out as she fell forward, and a small hand grabbed her own, yanking her backwards.

After a short stumble, Ralph let go of Summer's hand, saying with concern, "Are you okay?"

She gave him a thumbs-up. "Fine, thanks to you."

"Good." He paused. "You ought to be more careful, Summer."

"Says the one who just fell back there!" she laughed.

"Hmph." Ralph pouted.

"Say, Pichu, could you stand over there a sec? But don't fall!" Summer directed the Pichu to where she had nearly fallen, and in the light of Pichu's electrical energy, she saw that a ledge was the cause of her almost-fall.

Cautiously, she crept forward, peering over. "It's just a small drop. We can keep going." She reported to an uncertain Ralph. "I'll go down first and catch you, 'kay?" Without waiting for an answer, she sat down on the edge and pushed herself off.

"Summer!" Ralph rushed over to the precipice, looking worriedly for his friend. She was right in front of him, looking up, amused.

"Didn't I say it was only a small drop?"

"Yeah, well…" he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

Summer smiled at him. "Nah, it's cute! Okay. C'mon down, Ralph."

A slight blush of embarrassment gracing his cheeks, Ralph shuffled to the edge, and jumped. Easily, Summer caught him and set him down on the stone floor.

"Thanks." Ralph said, looking around. "It's darker down here."

"That's because we lack our adorable flashlight." As if on cue, said flashlight jumped onto Summer's head, surprising the girl. "Woah! Ah hah, funny. I guess you don't like being called a flashlight?"

In response, Ukelele Pichu leapt from his place atop Summer's head with a growl of, "Piii.".

Summer pouted. "But I called you adorable, too!"

The Pichu practically grinned. It pulled the ukulele from its back and played a happy tune. Once finished, both Ralph and Summer applauded.

"That was cool. But, uh, we kinda need to get going."

"Right you are. Let's go." And so they set off once more, down the shadowed path. Without warning, Pichu ran off ahead of his human friends, leaving them with little light to see. However, Pichu's light lit up something else- a largely built man with long grey hair dressed in light green, standing in front of a path. He looked to be in his late forties.

"Arley!" Ralph shouted, running towards the man.

That's him? Summer thought, mildly surprised. She had been expected someone slightly, well… younger.

"Ralph?" Arley rumbled. "Didn't I tell you not to follow me in here? It's far too dangerous!"

"Yeah, yeah," Ralph waved a dismissive hand, unconcerned. "But I'm with someone!"

Summer walked forward, standing in Pichu's glow so that Arley could see her. "Hi. I'm Summer."

"Summer?" Arley asked, with a frown. He noticed her clothes. "You're a Pokémon Ranger? Were you assigned to help Rand?"

"Ah, well, something like that."

"Yeah!" Ralph piped up. "She's come to Oblivia, and you were gone for aaaaaaages so I asked for her help!"

"I see…" Arley murmured. "Nonetheless, I'm quite alright. I came here because I wanted to know what those people were up to and from what I've gathered, they're after something from the Monument."

Summer frowned. "Err, Monument?"

"Yes. In this cave and other places across Oblivia, there are several Monuments, usually protected by powerful Pokémon." Arley looked rather worried as he added, "But the Pokémon isn't here at the minute, which is probably why they are…"

The Ranger nodded. "Makes sense. Well, I'm not sure how, but we need to stop them."

All of a sudden, they became shrouded in darkness. "What the-?!"

"Pichu? Pichu, where've you gone?" There was a lot of scuffling and bumping into each other.

"Wait!" Summer called out. "Stop! I bet Pichu's gone down there, to where the Pinchers are! We need to follow him, before he causes trouble!"

"Right!" With some difficulty, they found the path, and walked down it.

Guardian Signs

Two Pokémon Pinchers stood before a stone Monument that was covered in an ancient-looking text. One nudged the other and said, "C'mon."

"Yeah, yeah. Okay." The one who had just spoken walked forward, and held out his right palm to the Monument. He was going to use his Control Gauntlet on it, somehow. The purple rings shot out of his hand, on to the centre of the Monument. An electric-blue symbol appeared, but after a few seconds, it disappeared. Several small stones crumbled from the Monument, and the Pincher reached out, breaking off the centre of it.

"Nice. We got the Emblem!" He called out to his partner, waving the piece of stone in the air before putting in a pouch at his side.

"Alright, let's get outta here!" Before they could leave, however…

"Pichuuuu!" Ukulele Pichu ran forward with a primal growl and leapt onto the Pincher's face.

"Agggh! What the heck is it doing?!"

The one with the 'Emblem' sniggered, watching his partner flail about.

"Don't just laugh, you idiot! Get this stupid thing off of me!"

"Hey! Watch who you're calling an idiot, Nick."

Nick waved his arms about, after failing to prise Pichu off of his face. "Fine, fine, fine, Gerry. Just get it off!"

Half-heartedly and with a sigh, Gerry, pulled Ukulele Pichu off of his partner's face, where he squirmed in his hands. "Stupid Pokémon. You can't go around trying to give people shocks, you know!" he threw Pichu down, glaring.

"Pi!" Pichu cried out as he fell, and landed on his back with a sickening 'crack'.

Guardian Signs

"Hey! Did you hear that?" Summer whispered, looking back at Ralph and Arley. The path had gotten lighter, so much so that she could see her companions.

"What?" Ralph whispered back, confused.

"Well, I'm not sure what exactly. But it didn't sound good." The group turned a corner, where quite a sight met their eyes.

"You can't go around trying to give people shocks, you know!" a male Pincher was shouting, with a tight grip around Ukulele Pichu's neck. The next second, he had thrown Pichu down in his anger.

"Hey!" Summer shouted. She ran forward in an attempt to catch the Pichu. But she wasn't quite fast enough, and the Pokémon landed with a horribly loud cracking noise. "Pichu! Are you okay?"

The Pokémon blinked, looking up at her. "Pich…u! Pichu!" He stood, and ran towards the girl, hiding behind her legs.

"But…" Ralph muttered. "If he's okay, what was that noise?" The answer lay in front of them, in pieces of wood and strings. The ukulele had saved Pichu from the fall, but was broken beyond repair.

Summer glared at the Pinchers, but her next words were directed at the small boy behind her. "Could you pick those up, Ralph?" she walked forward, furiously glaring at the Pincher who had thrown Pichu. "Just what the hell do you think you're doing, throwing a Pokémon?"

Gerry the Pincher looked sideways at his companion, who shrugged. "I don't think that's any of your business, you nosy brat."

Nick tapped his partner's arm, and whispered, "She's a Ranger, Gerry."

"So? Why don't you get the Z.Z. Flyers. I think I've got this. Cranidos! Give 'em what for!"

A low roar sounded from the corner of the cavern, and a Cranidos came rushing forward, its head down. It collided with the back of Nick, whose legs were swept out from under him as the Cranidos charged on.

"Agh! Gerry!" Nick landed on the floor, but immediately stood, rubbing his back. "I've had enough of Pokémon attacking me today, thanks!" he walked off, grumbling.

Summer readied her Styler as the remaining Pincher reprimanded the Cranidos. "You don't attack him, you stupid-urrgh! Whatever! Just… she's your opponent! The Ranger!"

The rock-type practically said, "Oh." with its expression, and then glared. It moved one foot back across the floor, bending its legs and releasing its claws. Summer was ready for it, and could guess what it was about to do.

The Cranidos charged. Summer skipped to the side. The Pokémon crashed into the wall, and fell to the floor.

Summer smirked. "That was almost too easy-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Cranidos stood up and didn't appear to be at all fazed.

"Huh?"

Gerry smirked smugly. "Cranidos has an extremely tough cranium, so it's not going to be knocked out that easily!"

"Damn." Summer muttered. She wondered how to Capture it. If it's head it the most powerful part, I'll just take it down someplace else!

Summer ran forward, taking everyone in the vicinity by surprise. She slid to the floor, her legs out in front of her. Her feet collided with the legs of the Cranidos, causing it to fall. As quickly as she could, the girl stood, and drew loops around the Pokémon. Slowly, the Cranidos stood, and she backed away, still drawing the loops of energy.

The dinosaur-like creature began to advance. Summer did not hesitate.

"Capture Complete!" sounded from her Styler as it always did, and Summer sighed with relief.

"Wow! You did it!" Ralph bounded across to Summer, stuffing the pieces of Ukulele into his pockets.

"That was pretty impressive." Arley ambled over as Summer held out an Oran berry to the Cranidos, who greedily snapped at it.

"Thanks." She smiled, then turned her attention back to the Pincher. During the Capture, his partner had returned, and both were mounting the Z.Z. Flyers, which was apparently the name of the hovering machines.

"Alright, Ranger girl." Gerry snapped. "Pretty good, but I honestly don't care. We completed our mission. Let's go, Nick."

"Right." His partner replied, and they both sped off towards the cave's exit.

Summer sighed. "A shame that we couldn't stop them or find out what they were up to, but I'd say that-"

'CRASH'! Arley, Ralph, Summer and Ukulele Pichu turned towards the cave exit, startled. They saw the two Pinchers that they had just accosted, and a third, female Pincher. One of the men, Gerry, had collided with the female, on the Z.Z. Flyers.

"Watch it, would you- Hey! Aren't you supposed to be luring Raikou away?"

The female stood, rubbing her head. "Well, yeah, I was. But Nick messaged me about a Ranger in the cave, so I came to have a-"

"NICK!" Gerry roared. "You idiot!"

Nick lowered his head. "Sorry…"

"So where is Raikou now?"

The female bit her lip. "Erm. Good question, haha…"

"This isn't funny! Raikou could-"

"ROAAAARRR!" an animalistic roar sounded from outside the cave, making the Pinchers jump.

"-be right… here…"

A Pokémon ran into the cave, looking positively irate. It moved on four legs and had yellow fur with black lightning bolt patterns decorating its legs. It had a blue lightning bolt-shaped tail, and a purple cape of fur covered its back. Deadly fangs extended from its mouth and glaring eyes took in the sight before it. The creature roared, and lightning bolts appeared, striking the space around the Pinchers.

"Arrrgghhh! It's Raikou!" one of them shouted.

"No way!" came a sarcastic reply.

"C'mon, let's go!" The three mounted their Z.Z. Flyers and flew out of the cave. Raikou tore after them with amazing speed.

Summer was stunned. Had that really been the legendary Pokémon Raikou, one of the elemental beasts?

"Wow. Just. Wow. We saw Raikou!" Ralph danced around, grinning. "We saw Raikou, we saw Raikou! That's soooo lucky!"

"Ahaha, yeah." Summer looked towards the Monument, the centre of it missing. She walked towards it, squinting at the text.

"You probably won't be able to read that, it's pretty ancient stuff."

"Hm." She ran her hand across the empty space. "I wonder what they took, though. Didn't that guy say 'Emblem'?"

Ralph cocked his head to the side. "No idea."

"Ugh. Foolish idiots. I didn't know they'd destroy the Monument." Arley said, sighing.

Summer gave the man a reassuring smile. "Not to worry." She clenched her fist. "I'll stop them!"

Arley laughed. "I hope you do. They seem like terrible people."

Ralph stepped forward. "Hey, Arley. Do you know what was written there?" he gestured to the Monument.

The large man shook his head. "Sorry, kid. I think it mentioned Raikou, though."

"Huh." Ralph frowned and then brightened as he realised something. "Maybe it was about that story! Uh, what was it called... Ah! "Raikou and the Hero of Oblivia!"

"Maybe. Who knows, now that we can't read it?"

"I heard about the story from Booker. I bet it has something to do with what the Pinchers were after! After all, Raikou was chasing them!"

Summer nodded. "It's an interesting theory, for sure. I'll see if I can investigate it later."

"Oh, Summer! I know what Rangers do when they complete a mission!"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah! Ahem." Ralph coughed, and put on a serious voice. "That was an excellent Mission Clear, Ranger!"

Going with the act, Summer performed her Ranger pose, smiling.

Afterward, her Styler told her, "You've obtained 50 Ranger Points!" Ranger Points are gained after a mission or quest, and the Ranger can use them to update things on their Styler, such as the length of the lines they can draw in a Capture. "Congratulations on the Mission Clear! You may use the points for Styler Modification. Unfortunately, though, Styler Modification is currently unusable. Part of the system was destroyed by the shock of impact from falling." Great. Summer wondered how she could get it fixed.

Even so, it was a Mission Clear for the first time since she had arrived in Oblivia, and it felt great.

Hope you guys enjoyed! :D Another chapter will be up at the end of the month. I'm uploading chapters then and on the 15th, like today. :)

Uploaded on: Sunday 15th March 2015