Sorry about the delay, which is due to a combination of school midterms, writer's block, and my new obsession with the TV show Party of Five. But, yeah, now I'm back with the next chapter. Yay! Have fun! I know I do!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or any of the Ranger characters. Lucy belongs to Crime Scene Fairy.

Now back to the action!

Joel

The Staraptor on the right peeled off and headed straight for the two Gyarados, immediately attracting their attention. As they turned, one of them lashed its tail angrily, whacking the crap out of Lucy and sending her flying into the water.

"Lucy!" I yelled, diving in after her without a second thought and stroking toward where I had seen her thrown. The waves were choppy from the angry Gyarados and I was swallowing salt water every other breath. I started to panic as couldn't see her bobbing figure anywhere on the surface and was about to dive under to start looking for her when she popped up beside me, spewing water everywhere and coughing.

"Arceus, Lucy, could you almost die any more times?" I cracked, covering up my anxiety. She managed to stop coughing and send me an annoyed look.

"I don't do it on purpose," she answered, pushing her dark red hair out of her face. We had almost ended an argument on our own when Lucy ruined it. "You look ridiculous swimming with your glasses on," she grinned.

"Sorry, I didn't have time to take them off between fighting an angry Gyarados and diving into the water to save your butt," I snapped, realizing she knew exactly how to push my buttons.

"It's not like I needed saving," she shot back. Our argument was cut short as our shirt collars were both grabbed by the talons of a Staraptor. There was only one person I knew who trained their Staraptor to be that skillful.

"Wendy!" I heard Lucy say happily. The Staraptor had to work at it, but managed to carry us back to where we had fought the Gyarados before.

"Sven says hi," she grinned back at Lucy as the Staraptor set us back down on the boardwalk, "He wishes he could've come, but he's on a mission with Keith." I squeezed some of the water out of my uniform, frowning at the fact that I was so soaked. Did Lucy honestly have to almost drown? She always managed to get into the most inconvenient situations.

"Sven has a message for you too," Wendy said to me as she climbed off her Staraptor.

"Lemme guess," I rolled my eyes, "Something about how if I even say one wrong word toward Lucy, he'll sick his Luxray on me." Apparently Sven was very protective of Lucy. I had to learn that the hard way.

"Actually, this time he said that he'll break every bone in your body, drop you in the Haruba Desert and leave you there for a week or so, and then sick his Luxray on you," Wendy replied with a hint of laughter. Lucy's smirk didn't escape me either. It's not like she didn't give as much as she got.

"A bit over the top much?" I asked sourly, knowing that Lucy did nothing to discourage this.

"Not for Sven," Wendy replied seriously, "Believe me. He's done worse."

I turned my attention back to the Gyarados only to find that they had stopped their rampaging. Whoever was on the other Staraptor had calmed them and was about to set them free. I turned to Wendy, stunned. "What- Who-"

"What he means is who managed to calm those Gyarados down and how did they do it?" Lucy filled in for me, seemingly amused.

"It's Kate," Wendy answered, smiling at my astonishment, "It's because of her Vatonage styler. Because of what is going on here, her styler works where others don't."

I did a face-palm. "Honestly?"

"He's mad because we've been spending the past twenty minutes trying to capture those Gyarados," Lucy explained to Wendy, taking a certain amount of pleasure from the fact that I was so emotional about this, "When Kate just captured them in, like, two minutes all because she had the right styler."

"Ah," Wendy nodded mockingly, "I can see how that might be frustrating."

"You guys are gonna kill me," I moaned.

Solana

I was now in a full out sprint to get to Spenser in time. Our connection between our stylers was still live, so I could hear each near miss on the other end. "Spenser, I didn't realize you had such a dirty mouth," I mentioned, grinning despite the situation.

"Yeah, well, just because I'm a leader doesn't mean I'm a saint," he replied grimly, which was followed by yet another curse. "These things are ridiculous. I never want to see another Tyranitar as long as I live. Where are you anyway? Every second I fight these things is another year off my life."

"I told you I was hauling ass," I retorted, ducking under a tree.

Spenser hesitated and I recognized when he was about to make a really stupid, sacrificial move. "Don't even speak," I warned him, "You're going to say something stupid. I know it."

"No, I'm not," Spenser protested, panting, "This is a carefully thought-up plan." I heard the sound of a tree being uprooted both in the distance and through the styler and I flinched.

"What the heck was that?"

"Listen, Solana," he sounded serious now and I would've groaned had I not known he would yell at me for it, "My styler isn't capturing these things. You coming here wouldn't do either of us any good. Go back to the town and see if anyone's found out how to capture these Pokemon. I can last another ten minutes."

"Spenser, I leave you there another ten minutes and you die," I hissed back at him, "No way is that going to happen."

"You come here and we both die," he snapped and I could hear the frustration in his voice, "How does that sound to you? We can't capture these guys with the stylers we have."

Kate's words ran through my mind. This styler will capture any Pokemon, no matter what kind of… influence they are under. The Vatonage styler must be the key. "I think I might know how to fix this," I answered, looking at the styler in a new light.

"Solana, I'm serious, unless you're 100% sure, go back and see if Cameron found anything out-"

I interrupted him before he spent any more time saying stupid things. "Spense, don't waste your breath. I'll be there in two seconds."

He might've said something in return, but I didn't hear it because I ended the connection between our stylers just as I burst through the tree line. I barely even recognized the clearing anymore. Let me just say, Tyranitars are destructive creatures.

And Spenser looked exhausted. I don't care what he said, he wouldn't have lasted ten more minutes. "Hey, Leader," I grinned as I ran past him to have my attempt at capturing the two huge Pokemon, "Long time no see." I did happen to see the face he made at me, which made him look not quite as mature as his age would suggest.

I stopped short of the two Tyranitar, intimidated by their size for a moment. "I'm surprised you lasted the five minutes you did," I said back to Spenser, who had stepped up beside me.

"Well, gee, Solana, I'm glad you have so much confidence in me," he replied dryly, "How do I fit in this plan of yours?"

"Just distract them, I don't know," I waved a hand at him wildly. The Tyranitar on the left shot a Hyper Beam at me and I dove to the side, deciding that now was a good time to get down to business.

"That tells me a lot," Spenser grumbled, entering the fray as well. From then on, I kind of lost tabs on him. I concentrated mainly on saving my own life and capturing these crazy Pokemon. It wasn't that I didn't care about Spenser, I just didn't have the extra attention to worry about him. Besides, he wasn't Ringtown leader for nothing. He could take care of himself.

I captured the first Tyranitar about five minutes in and as my styler acknowledged the capture, I almost held my breath, praying for this to work. Luckily, it did. The Tyranitar was subdued and I went after the next with a vengeance, ecstatic that my idea worked. Thank you, Kate. I think she was honestly my new favorite person.

Finally, I captured the next one and released first one, and then the next a few minutes later. The last thing we needed was for them to see each other right away and get in another territorial battle. I think Spenser must cry if that happened. He may become physiologically damaged if he ever sees a Tyranitar again. I know that look on his face.

He just looked at me and I could tell the question he was going to ask. "It's because of my Vatonage styler. Kate gave me one a day or two ago." He apparently had no reply for this and just stood there looking stunned.

Suddenly, the ground rumbled. "I thought we had stopped this," I frowned, grabbing onto a nearby tree to keep my balance. All of a sudden, it got really dark. I grabbed on tighter to the tree, feeling more terrible than I had ever felt in my life. There was no word for it, only a vague feeling that I was stuck in a nightmare that I couldn't escape from.

"Spenser, what is going on?" I yelled, barely opening my tightly-closed eyes.

"I have an idea," he replied grimly, "But you're not gonna like it."

Wendy

Kate landed her Staraptor next to mine, grinning as she jumped off. "Hey, guys! Joel, Luce, good to see you again," she greeted them sunnily, apparently not phased by the two gigantic Gyarados she had just captured. She had met Joel and Lucy more than a few times through our monthly meetings at the Ranger Union.

"Good to see you too, Kate," Lucy grinned, "and just in time too. You sure know how to make an entrance."

"Just glad I could help," Kate grinned her aw-shucks grin she saved for thank yous, "Is my sister here?"

"I don't think so," Lucy replied, "At least, I haven't seen her. But then again, Joel and I were a little bit preoccupied." She smiled sweetly at Joel and he made a face back at her. I had to say that as much as Sven wasn't happy about Joel hanging around Lucy, they were pretty entertaining. I had my theories about their relationship.

"I'll ask Elita," Kate nodded, scanning the town for the Wintown leader. But then something stopped everyone from worrying about finding Elita.

Lucy saw it first. "Guys, what is that?" she asked, pointing in the distance. The four of us looked toward the jungle to see a ball of darkness slowly growing. My Staraptor started getting restless, flapping its wings and seeming unable to stay calm. I turned my head sharply to see Kate's face turn white.

"Kate, listen, it'll be fine," I grabbed her shoulders, keeping her focused on me. I turned back around to see the globe of darkness covering the jungle, but not the town. It had stopped expanding by now. We were okay.

"Look, it's not even going to affect us," I smiled at her hopefully, "You'll never have to go through that again, okay?"

Kate's face was still pale, but she managed to pull herself together. After what she went through on the top of Altru Tower, I don't blame her for being scared. "Is anyone in the jungle?" she pointed toward the main part of the island.

"I don't know," Lucy answered, looking concerned.

"Do you know what's going on, Wendy?" Joel looked at me suspiciously. I didn't blame him.

"The Ranger Union was going to hold a meeting tomorrow to tell everyone, but I guess we didn't move quickly enough," I replied, looking worriedly toward the main island, "I hope whoever's in there can deal with one pissed off Darkrai."