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Lunick

I was going into the Salamance's den. Or something equally scary, if not worse.

I was actually entering the sleeping quarters for all Ringtown Rangers, which were really just Solana and me. Spenser has his own quarters and we had lost Murph to the Union a few years ago. Spenser has his own theory about why we haven't gotten a replacement yet. "I was not, as I would have you believe, always this perfect," he had shared with us, "When I was younger and in Ranger School, I was sometimes a bit of a miscreant. It was Joel and Cameron's influence, definitely. Therefore, I'm not sure if the Ranger School is quite ready to trust me with one of their students."

"Or they're just waiting for the right clueless sucker to come along," Solana had snickered.

Anyway, getting back to the present, I was going into our sleeping quarters to wake up Solana. The problem was that it was for the dawn patrol. The problem was that Solana hates to be woken up earlier. I was about to get something thrown at me.

But there was no avoiding it. Spenser needed a break after getting hit by a tree branch yesterday. Seeing as we were exceptionally short on Rangers that left Solana to come with me. Besides, I found a certain, twisted humor in seeing Solana's reaction to having to wake up.

"Solana," I called in a quiet, sing-song voice, "It's Dynamic Duo time."

I heard a movement from the bed and ducked down just in time to avoid being wacked in the face with a pillow. "Do you know how much better my reflexes have gotten since you joined this team?" I joked. The next pillow hit me right in the chest.

"Ouch," I frowned, then brightened when I remembered my plan coming into the room. "Solana, I made you breakfast."

There was silence in the room for a second. "Okay, I'll be out in a second," she groaned. I grinned triumphantly and headed for the door. The only way to get her out of bed was to mention food.

Whack. She clipped me in the head on my way out.

Solana

I hate the morning. I hate the sun in the morning. I hate the cold of the morning. But most of all, I hate when Lunick wakes me up in the morning. He's too cheery.

I stumbled into the kitchen, bleary-eyed and looking only for my food. I was very disappointed to find a bowl of oatmeal at my seat, but I found I didn't have much energy to properly convey my disappointment.

"Oatmeal?" I said in a small voice, sitting down quietly and rubbing my eyes.

Lunick was busy chowing down on his own bowl of oatmeal with a Fiore newspaper spread out in front of him. "Yes, that's oatmeal, Solana. Try it. It's good."

I frowned blearily into my bowl. "But I wanted eggs."

"Well, next time I'll take your order the night before," Lunick retorted sarcastically, but I wasn't awake yet and could barely understand what he was saying.

"Spenser makes me eggs," I mumbled, spooning the oatmeal around.

Lunick put the newspaper down for a second, looked in my eyes, and patted my hand. "Just eat the oatmeal, Solana."

I nodded and ate the oatmeal.

Lunick

Things got better once we started moving. Plusle and Minun, who had slept as long as they could before we left, were now frolicking around and playing and were very much awake. I shot a look over at Solana to see if it annoyed her. It looked like the usual annoyed face she had in the morning.

The whole first hour of the patrol, I said nothing. Finally, Solana was the one to break the silence. "When did Aria leave?" She asked, still not sounding very happy.

"Early in the morning," I replied, glad for the conversation, "I saw her off."

"Yeah, I bet you did," Solana snickered. She does that a lot. Snickers.

I said nothing, but made a grumpy noise.

"Oh, no, not your grumpy noise," Solana teased me, looking much more awake. "I'm sorry I make fun of you and Aria so much, but it's just so easy and so much fun. Honestly though, I love the fact that you guys are in a relationship."

"Oh please," I snorted in disbelief, "I get nothing but grief from you and Spenser."

"No really," she insisted, and I could see she was dead serious now, "I sanctioned this relationship from the very beginning."

I shook my head. "Yeah, I don't remember it."

"You don't remember? At the celebration party after we beat the Go-Rock Squad. You guys kissed and I gave you the thumbs-up sign."

"I don't remember that," I replied, looking over her shoulder and breaking into a grin.

"Why are you smiling?" she frowned, "And how can you not remember this?"

"It's Murph," I pointed over her shoulder to where our old team member was standing, waving at us frantically. At the mention of Murph, the argument was immediately forgotten and Solana grinned just as broadly as I had.

She actually gave Murph a hug as she approached, an action she bestows upon few. I don't think he was ready for it because he almost fell over. Plusle and Minun danced around Murph's Slowpoke, and it stared vacantly around, which was how Murph looked right now. "Murph, you haven't visited in so long! It's so great to see you!" Solana gushed, and I have only seen her this way with Murph. It's like he unleashes some kind of hidden adoration.

Murph scratched his head and a slow smile spread across his face. "Well, it's good to see you too, Solana." He shook my hand when I offered it. "Lunick."

"Hey Murph," I replied, unsure what to say after Solana's heartfelt welcome, "Good to see ya."

"Say, is, uh, is Spenser around?" He asked, motioning to a blonde girl behind him that I hadn't noticed before. She was wearing a crisp, new Ranger uniform and looked nervous. She had to be fresh out of Ranger School.

"Yeah, sure," Solana answered, all gung-ho and enthusiastic now. "He's back at the base." She turned her attention to the girl. "Did you just graduate from Ranger School? Are you gonna join our team? What's your name?"

"Jeez, Solana, don't smother the girl with your questions," I teased her, glad to be getting her back a little.

"I'm Melody," the girl answered, sounding strong and out-spoken for all her butterflies, "I'm from Pueltown in Almia. I graduated from Ranger School and I've been assigned to your base." She gave a wide grin. "I can't wait to get started."

"Well, welcome to Ringtown, Melody," Solana smiled back. "I'm Solana and this ugly mug over here is Lunick."

"Hey," I made a mock-angry face at her, but let it go in good-humor.

"Oh, and this is Plusle, my partner Pokemon," Plusle jumped up on Solana's shoulder and Minun did the same on my shoulder.

"This is Minun," I followed her lead, "My partner Pokemon."

"And Spenser's our leader," Solana continued brightly. "He's back at the base. Lunick will take you guys there. I just have a little errand to run." She started to walk away, but I wanted to know what errand she was talking about.

"Wait here for one second," I told Melody and Murph, and I walked over to Solana, out of hearing range. "What's this errand?"

"I gotta go over to Larry's house," Solana said quietly, the laughter dancing in her eyes, "Spenser told me it was my job to do it when the new recruit comes. I gotta tell Larry to do it just like he did it for me. Melody won't have to wait long for her first mission."