CSF: Yeah, actually I didn't realize how much I liked Isaac and Rhythmi as a couple until I wrote that chapter. You can count on more of them! And of Sven, really. I kind of want to have a Sven/Wendy coupling too, but I didn't know if that would just be too much shipping. *shrug* We'll see how it goes!
Here's the next installment! The next couple chapters might take a little longer because I'm trying to work out exactly how I want the plot to go. I have the general idea, but not the specifics. Anyway, enjoy! And bring on the reviews! :)
Solana
"You know what I need?" Alyssa asked me as she watched Plusle scamper ahead of us, off chasing Arceus knows what. We were on patrol again, this time up on the mountain instead in town. Ever since the Go-Rock Squad, Elita has us check in on the site of old base at least two or three times a week, more out of superstition than anything.
"No, Alyssa, I don't know. Tell me, what do you need?" I replied distractedly, recognizing the ruins of the base that Lunick and I infiltrated. I remember how much Spenser scared me by staying behind, but I also remember having to suck it up and stop Gordor. Wow, that all of a sudden seemed like a millennium ago. Funny how time flies.
"I really need a partner Pokemon," she answered, still watching Plusle.
"Why?" I grinned, "All they do is annoy you."
"Plai, plai," Plusle looked back at me angrily.
"Okay, Plusle, just kidding," I called back, knowing I would've gotten nowhere with my little red and yellow partner Pokemon.
I turned my attention back to Alyssa. "That's actually a decent idea. Except for the fact that you can't really just go out and pick a Pokemon at random. It has to pick you."
"So, is there any way I can work that?" Alyssa asked, squinting at me.
"I've heard of this place in Almia called Nabiki Beach. A lot of Rangers have met their partner Pokemon there. You could always go there and just hope a friendly Pokemon comes along."
"Yeah, that's a pretty sucky plan," Alyssa commented.
"Hey," I protested, punching her shoulder harder than I meant to.
"Ouch," she said with a sad face, "You punched me."
"Yeah, well, you dissed my plan."
"You know, when you become leader, you can't just go around punching people whenever you want."
"I'll be leader. I can do anything I want." I answered smugly.
"It will be a time of great sadness in Fiore when Solana finally become leader," Alyssa said with mock sorrow. "People walking around with black eyes and only some of their teeth- Ow! Stop punching me!"
"Than stop making fun of me," I answered, crossing my arms and frowning.
"I was just kidding, Solana," Alyssa replied, trying to stop herself from grinning, "I've heard of Nabiki Beach before. I lived not too far from it and it's where my sister got her first partner Pokemon. Actually, your idea is better than nothing at this point."
"We could probably connive the Dragonite Bus into dropping us outside the Vientown Ranger Base," I mused thoughtfully, "As long as Elita's okay with it."
"Then it's a date," Alyssa answered, winking at me, "Oh, wait, just kidding. That's what you want with Spenser. Ouch! Solana, I 'm not a punching bag!"
***
An hour later, after returning to the base and stopping to grab some lunch, Alyssa and I convinced Dragonite to take us to Vientown. "Can you come pick us up, in like, an hour?" I asked hopefully, and the Dragonite grunted.
"Plai, plai, plai," Plusle told me, which I think roughly translates to "he thinks you're a big pain in the ass."
"Yeah, that's not news," I answered, allowing my little yellow and red friend to climb up on my shoulder.
"Plai, plai," Plusle argued back and I sighed.
"I don't want to be nicer, Plusle. I'm a pain. It's who I am. If people don't like it, they're going to have to deal with it."
"Plai, plai, plai," Plusle said with a bit of a devious grin and jumped off my shoulder, just out of my reach.
"You're a pain, you know that, right?"
"What did Plusle say?" Alyssa asked innocently, and I couldn't help myself from turning red.
"Nothing," I mumbled. If Plusle thought that I was going to be nicer so that Spenser would do more than just like me, she was wrong. I wasn't going to change for anyone.
Plusle decided it was safe enough to come back and jumped on my shoulder again. "You keep this up and you can find yourself a new Ranger," I muttered darkly. We started walking toward Nabiki Beach, which wasn't far at all.
"Plai, plai," Plusle replied brightly, which was something along the lines of "I'm so lovable, that won't be hard at all."
"Until you open your mouth," I retorted, and Alyssa shot me a look of confusion.
"I was talking to Plusle," I answered, pointing to the Pokemon on my shoulder.
"Oh," Alyssa looked confused, "Will I be able to do that with my partner too?"
"After a while of knowing it," I shrugged, "Although I kinda wish I couldn't understand Plusle."
Plusle stuck her tongue out at me, making a face. "Yeah, keep your face that way and you'll start looking like Minun."
Plusle immediately stopped. Although she and Minun were best friends, she considered herself to be superior in many ways, including looks.
We turned the corner and Nabiki Beach came into view. "Okay, now what do we do?" Alyssa said as she went down the steps and stood in the middle of the beach.
"I don't know. I guess just wait," I answered, sitting down on the sand. Alyssa joined me and started talking about what kind of Pokemon she wanted for her partner. We didn't have to wait long.
All of a sudden, I heard commotion in the forest behind us. "What the heck is going on?" Alyssa asked as she turned to stare. Out from the forest came a crazed Chatot being chased by three angry-looking Spearow.
"Is it just me, or does that Chatot not look normal?"
Alyssa turned to me and nodded, "Yeah, it's flying all crazy. Maybe it's hurt."
The group of Pokemon was flying our way and I nudged Alyssa. "Well, here's your chance. Go get 'em."
Alyssa didn't look thrilled. "Uh, maybe I should wait for a better Pokemon."
"Alyssa, go rescue the darn thing," I answered, "Before it gets itself killed."
"Okay," she nodded, fiddling with the styler on her hand and running off to catch the angry Spearow and calm the Chatot.
I looked over at Plusle. "At least it wasn't a Caterpie."
"Plai, plai," she replied scornfully. What was she talking about? She had it all wrong. She thinks that I'm lucky to have her?
"No way," I retorted, pointing at Plusle, "You are lucky to have me, buddy. That Houndoom would've eaten your butt if I hadn't saved you."
"Plai, plai, plai."
"I so could've beaten the Go-Rock Squad without you. You weren't even effective against that Pupitar that Billy had."
"Plai, plai."
"Okay, so you were half-way useful against Suicune."
"PLAI!"
"Okay, so you were super-effective, don't freak out on me."
"I'm back," Alyssa announced. I had to duck down immediately, seeing as the Chatot almost flew into me.
"Control that thing, would you?" I yelled as it clumsily clipped a foot on the ground and flipped over into a somersault.
"He has issues with flying," Alyssa protested, "It's not my fault."
"Did you capture it?"
"Yeah," she nodded, "And he wouldn't go away when I released him. He's not hurt or anything, so I don't know why he's so klutzy."
"Tell it to heel or something cause it's gonna end up flying into a tree and killing itself in a second," I yelped as it almost had a hit-and-run collision with Plusle.
"Okay, um, Chatot, come here," Alyssa called. The Chatot paused for a moment, squawked, and then clumsily made its way over to Alyssa.
The humor of the situation suddenly struck me as hilarious. "Oh my Suicune, you have a crazy Chatot for a partner now, don't you?"
Alyssa frowned. "He's not crazy."
"He's the craziest damn thing I've ever seen in my life," I replied, grinning broadly.
"He's just a little klutzy," she patted Chatot on the head, smiling at it. It hopped up and down in happiness, looking ridiculous.
"Oh, I do have a crazy Chatot for a partner, don't I?" Alyssa wailed, and I tried to stop grinning.
"Like I said to Plusle, at least it's not a Caterpie or something."
"Alyssa, it that you?" I heard a voice coming from the path to Vientown. Alyssa's head shot up immediately, so she must have recognized the voice.
"Big sis!" Alyssa's concerns about her partner were forgotten as she ran toward who must have been her older sister, and as I got a closer look, I saw a face that I had seen more than a few times on the front page of the Almia Times.
"Big sis, I can't believe you're here. What are you doing here?"
"I just had to talk to Barlow about a few things. I thought I saw you walking to Nabiki Beach through the window of the base, so I just checked to see if it really was you. I haven't seen you in so long! What's it like to be a Ranger in Fiore?"
"It's great! I want you to meet someone, sis." She pulled her big sister over to be and did the introductions. "Kate, this is Solana. She used to be a Vientown Ranger, but now she's training to be the Wintown leader after Elita leaves. Solana, this is Kate, my big sister."
"It's great to finally meet you," I grinned, shaking Kate's hand, "Alyssa talks about you all the time."
"Same here," Kate smiled warmly, "I've heard about you from the letters she writes me."
Chatot chose that particular moment to try to clumsily flap over to Kate, but overshot us all by a mile. "What the heck was that?" Kate ducked, craning her head to see what it was.
"Oh, Arceus, not again," Alyssa shook her head, chasing after the crazy bird Pokemon. This left Kate and I semi-alone.
"It's her new partner Pokemon," I grinned at Kate, but she looked strangely serious.
"Listen, Solana," Kate hesitated, keeping an eye on her sister, "Things are… happening. Things that the Ranger Union alone isn't going to be able to control. There's going to be some trouble coming up soon, and I really, really need you to promise me to watch over my little sister."
This conversation was suddenly getting very serious. What was Kate hinting at? Was there something going on in Almia that the Fiore Rangers didn't know about? "Yeah," I nodded, "I'll look after her. I would even if you didn't ask me to."
"There's going to be a meeting in the next few days, and it will all be explained then, but for now, I actually have something to give you." Kate reached into a small bag she had been carrying. "I was going to have Sven give it to you later, but I'd rather do it in person. I've been keeping it with me to keep it safe."
I was slightly confused because I hadn't heard anything about a meeting, but I decided to go along with it. She handed me what looked like a jazzed-up styler. "It's a Vatonage styler," she said, handing it to me, "There's only two of them ever made, including yours. They're not easy to make, but I convinced the Ranger Union to make a second to give to you."
"What does it do?" I asked, taking it from her, but eyeing it a bit cautiously. I thought I remembered something about it being the kind of styler Kate needed to capture the Darkrai and save Almia. I wasn't sure why I would need it now.
"It will capture any Pokemon, no matter what kind of… influence they are under," Kate explained, and I wondered if she was being intentionally vague. "The whole situation will be explained in a few days, but for now just know that this styler can do things that regular stylers can't."
"Why are you giving it to me?" I asked, still confused as to what all this meant. "I mean, I'm not even a leader yet."
"Yet," Kate grinned, "Honestly, from what Alyssa's told me, you can be trusted. Fiore is going to need one of these stylers close to home if trouble does end up coming. Also, and this may be a little bit selfish on my part, but I want to put the power near my little sis. If this can help you protect her in any way, I'll be happy."
"I know what you mean," I answered, thinking of all the people I wished I could protect, even though many of them didn't need it. Sometimes I wished I could just lock Spenser in a closet for a few weeks, at the rate he gets hurt. Lunick too.
"I gotta head back to the Union now, but I'm really glad I got to talk to you," Kate zipped back up her bag and waved to her sister. "I'll see you later, Alyssa."
Alyssa had managed to calm Chatot enough to get it to rest on her shoulder. "Bye, big sis!" She called out, managing to wave back without disrupting Chatot.
Kate left and then it was just me, Alyssa, Plusle, and Alyssa's crazy Chatot. Alyssa looked over at me curiously. "What'cha got there?" She asked, eyeing my Vatonage styler.
"Solana got a new toy," I grinned at her, waving the styler in front of her face.
"Plai, plai," Plusle commented dryly.
"I happen to like speaking in third person, thank you very much," I shot a look at Plusle, "And I don't really like you complaining about it."
"I want that new toy," Alyssa frowned.
"Too bad," I smiled sweetly at her, "Now let's get back to base before Chatot crashes into anything else."
"Solana has no love for you, does she?" Alyssa crooned at her new partner.
"Do you know how much Elita's gonna love that thing flying all over her base?" I asked, pointing at Chatot.
"She'll have to deal with it," Alyssa shot back.
"But I won't," I answered with an evil smile, "Oh, I just can't wait to be leader."