Nothing too important to say right now, besides the fact that I feel kind of evil right now for beating Melody up so much. :( Just read. All shall (eventually) be explained. :)
Lunick
"Lunick, what I'm saying is that Solana was kidnapped," Spenser repeated for the third time and this whole thing was just starting to sink in. Spenser, Joel, Lucy, Sven, and I were all standing in front of the Ringtown Ranger base and they were trying to explain to me why I needed to be warned to keep any patrols (aka me) away from Krokka Tunnel.
"Our Solana was kidnapped?" I said incredulously, shaking my head. Spenser looked about to give up, but I continued. "I mean, I get it and all, but how? When? Where? What the heck is going on that someone could kidnap our Solana? I mean, no offense intended, but I would expect Lucy and Joel to spend five minutes in a room together without arguing before I expected Solana to be kidnapped. And we all know how likely that is to happen."
"No offense taken," Lucy added, shooting a look at Joel, who rolled his eyes.
"We don't have a ton of time," Spenser explained quickly, "but we wanted to make sure you and Melody were okay and to warn you to stay away from Krokka Tunnel. That's where we suspect Dim Sun is right now and we don't want anyone getting hurt. Joel called ahead for Fall City and told them, but you guys didn't answer."
"I left my styler in the dormitory and our Operator's taken her week's vacation," I explained.
"Now?" Spenser asked, making a face, "Way to bail out."
"I know," I snorted, not quite sure how much Spenser would know about the strain I had been under lately, "So Krokka Tunnel is where Solana is?"
"That's what we think," Sven answered, pulling his hat down a bit.
"Leader, I want to come," I shot him a look partly of desperation. I was mostly a person who kept my cool, but Solana was my best friend. We had each others backs- always. I taught her the ropes of being a Ranger first and then she taught me a whole crapload after. I was her field experience. I remember feeling pretty dang important the first time Spenser assigned us to a mission together because I knew he was relying on me to keep her safe. And I did. And now look what's happened. The second she's away from me, she's taken. First I lost her to the Wintown Ranger base and now I was about to lose her maybe for forever. I couldn't let it happen.
Spenser gave a hesitant look. I knew Ringtown was short on Rangers anyway and that if I left this base, Melody with her injured arm would be the only one here. But I couldn't help it. I couldn't sit here while my other half was probably scared to death. Uh, wait a minute. This was Solana I was talking about. Just kidding. I couldn't sit here while my other half was most likely two seconds from getting killed cause she kept beating up everyone who came near her.
"Leader, this is really important to me," I pleaded, but he still seemed hesitant.
"I can send one of my Rangers over here while he's gone," Joel cut in, "If things get ugly, we could use the back-up." He flicked a look at Spenser. "But it's your base, your call. If you don't feel comfortable with it, it's up to you."
"Okay, you can come," Spenser nodded, motioning for me to go get my styler, "but make sure you tell Melody and hurry up."
"Thanks," I answered, shooting him a grin as well as Joel for covering for me. I was going to rescue Solana and once we got her out of there, I would never let her hear the end of it.
Melody
I was a bit unhappy about Lunick leaving. Well, that was a bit of an understatement. For me, I was furious. However, I wasn't one to let my anger out. I just bottled it up and fumed silently and held grudges. Alyssa would know.
That was why I was angry. My best friend in the world was kidnapped and I couldn't do squat about it. Instead, I had to sit here and "mind the base" until the adults got back. Like they even had one ounce more smarts than me. I bet anything my IQ's higher.
So I silently sulked for the next twenty minutes while they were gone. Lunick had told me to sit by the Operator desk in case they called cause they needed something. The whole base was empty. I had never felt so alone.
I hummed a tune absentmindedly while Pachirisu took a catnap in the patch of sun the window let through. There was supposed to be an area ranger from Fall City coming too. I hoped it was Aria cause I had heard a lot about her from Lunick. I had so many questions for her. Good question, I promise, just also slightly personal questions. She wouldn't mind, I didn't think. I mean, Lunick said she only bites people's heads off sometimes. She's gotten a lot better.
That was when the automatic doors to the base opened and admitted a sketchy-looking guy wearing a Fall City ranger uniform. I stopped him at the inner doors, crossing my arms- even though it was hard with the cast and all- and frowning at him. I wanted to let him know who the boss is around here. Lunick and Spenser had entrusted me with this base and Arceus strike me down before I was gonna let any old someone saunter in. Pachirisu had woken up from her nap and was right beside me, giving me back-up.
"Hey, Melody, right?" The sketchy guy smiled at me, seeming at ease, "I'm the Fall City Ranger that Joel sent over. Is it okay if I get something to drink really quick? I ran all the way over here from Fall City. I didn't want you to be alone any second longer than you had to."
"I was under the impression you were taking the Dragonite Bus," I challenged, eyes narrowing.
"That was if Aria was coming," he grinned back, rolling his eyes, "But she's busy. My rank isn't high enough for the Dragonite Bus. Now could you move, cause I'm really thirsty." He tried to push by me and I realized he smelled faintly of hairspray. What the heck? Pachirisu sensed the danger as well and sparks started to fly from its cheeks as it gave a small growl at the sketchy guy, warning him to back off.
"If you claim to be a Ranger, than where's your styler?" I asked, watching as his eyes widened. He knew I was on to him. He snapped his fingers and a Drapion came flying through the doors, taking Pachirisu out. I was reaching for my styler to call Spenser or Lunick when my head was slammed against the wall and I lost consciousness, seeing only black.
Aria
Joel had called me to watch the Ringtown base while Lunick and Spenser were off gallivanting in Krokka Tunnel. I didn't know why they were there or why, but I figured if Spenser, Joel, Lucy, and Lunick were all off on a mission together, it had to be something big. Besides, with me having the connections I did, I had heard a few things from the Wintown base concern two of their Rangers going missing. From what Lunick had told me and Spenser and Solana's relationship, I doubt Spenser was sane at this moment. I had to admit, I was worried about Solana too. Although we did drive each other insane sometimes, we had become good friends and I would never want anything to happen to her.
The Dragonite dropped me off on the second floor of the Ringtown Ranger base before taking off back to Fall City. I pounded down the stairs, my Vibrava fluttering after me, feeling a bit cheerful that I was I was at least doing something different than watch Lind and Keith argue over the tiniest thing. When I left it was which Pokemon could most easily burn down all of Fall City. Keith was for Charizard and Lind was for Moltres. I had been all for them shutting up.
I froze when I saw the small, blonde girl knocked out to the side of the open door that led to the Ringtown rangers' personal quarters. It must be Melody, who I'd heard Lunick describe several times as "the smart-ass cute little girl".
"Melody?" I said hesitantly, turning her over on her back. She was bleeding near the temple and already seemed to have an arm in a cast. She must be getting pretty beat up for such a small girl. She looked no older than twelve, but obviously she had to be fourteen if she was a Ranger here.
She groaned, her eyes fluttering open. "What just occurred?"
I stared at her for a moment, a bit stunned by her word choice. What fourteen-year-old- Never mind. I wasn't going to be mean right now.
She just looked confused for a moment. "A sketchy guy that was of the scent of hairspray thought he could scam me and, and-" she trailed off, "Wait, could you per chance be Aria?"
"Yeah," I answered, more interested in this guy of the scent of hairspray, "What happened, Melody? I need you to tell me that way I can figure this out."
I helped Melody to sit up. Her eyes looked a little bit out of focus and I suspected she may have a concussion in addition to her inured arm. This girl was getting all kinds of lucky breaks lately. "There was the hairspray guy and he was disguised as a Fall City ranger. Of course, he didn't dupe me for a second and I grilled him on a few things. He spooked and knocked me out. Little..." The following words were those that I'd only heard in the less pleasant section of Fall City.
"Oh," I replied, stunned to say the least, "I see. Well, now that I know what you think of him, can you tell me what he seemed to want?"
Melody shrugged. "He kept complaining of thirst and wanted to enter the base. Maybe he was just trying to gain access?"
"Yeah, uh, the gain access thing sounds good," I flicked a strange look at her, then looked over at the door, "Just get your bearings and stay here for a minute while I check this out."
"Certainly," she nodded, resting her head against the wall behind her and rubbing her temples.
I just left to go check out the Ringtown Ranger base. Sometimes there were no words. As soon as I walked into the base, I noticed nothing out of place. Everything seemed normal. I took a look over at Spenser's desk, where copies of every single report sent to the Union from the past three years were stored, and it looked relatively untouched. I scratched my head in confusion. What could this guy have taken? This was going to be hard to figure out. I decided the best thing to do now was to call Spenser. Whatever was going on right now, I didn't like it one bit. Things were heating up quickly and I just hoped we could diffuse things before all hell broke loose.