Arden knelt before his father's gravestone. Taylor Delta Blake, it read, 'Husband, Father, Pokemon Ranger.' Engraved at the top of the stone was the image of a scyther—the first pokemon of Taylor Blake. Wreathes and bouquets of flowers were piled at the memorial's foot, and Arden laid his bunch of roses there with the rest of them. "I'm sorry, Dad," he said quietly. His lip quivered and he broke down in sobs. "I'm s-sorry, Dad!"

Valor and Gaius looked on in silence, the former, herself, crying quietly. Gaius put his arm around his mother's shoulders and pulled her into a hug. She glanced over her older son's arm, at the tombstone of her late husband. Eyes misty, she couldn't help but think about when they'd first met.

Thinking back on that day made her feel like there was an eternity between Valor the mother and Valor the young trainer who wasn't expecting to fall in love. In fact, it had only been twenty years—twenty too-short years. She was only seventeen then—the same age Gaius was now—but she had been at training her pokemon for years. On this particular day, she'd been sitting on the beach at Olivine City trying to get her courage together to challenge her first gym. She rolled one of her pokeballs in her hand, pausing every now and again to look up at the ocean with a sigh.

"Gotta be brave, Valor," she whispered to herself. Beside her, her eevee, Miruna, napped lightly. "I'm good enough for this. I've trained enough for this…"

She sighed and lay back in the sand. "Miruna," she said, and the pokemon perked up her ears and looked up. "If I evolved you and Borka, would I win gym battles easily? Do you think I could win, anyway, without evolving you?"

"Vui," said Miruna, laying her head on her trainer's leg.

Valor sat up and rubbed the pokemon behind the ears. "I like you and Borka just the way you guys are," she said. "Strong or weak, I think you're both great. I'm afraid that if you evolve, maybe you'll change on the inside, too…"

"Eevee," Miruna said, closing her eyes. "Vui. Vui."

Valor picked up the eevee and held her to her chest. "You're a good friend, Miruna," she said softly. She stood. "We should train some more before we go to the gym. What do you say?"

"Vui!" said Miruna. "Eeevee!"

"Let's try finding some trainers on the ocean," said Valor as Miruna climbed up to her shoulder and curled herself around the trainer's neck. "They're always good for a battle, huh?"

"Vui!"

Valor reached into the front of her dress and pulled out a pokeball. "Go, Quenelle!" she shouted, holding it out.

With a flash, the young tauros appeared, cracking his tails like whips. "Aur-aur-auros!"

Moving very gracefully for a girl her size, Valor mounted Quenelle, sitting side-saddle on him. "We need to surf, Quen," she told him, rubbing his neck. "Let's go find some trainers, okay?"

"Auros!" said Quenelle, trotting toward the water.

"Wait! Miss, don't go in the water!" shouted someone behind her.

Quenelle paused and Valor looked back over her shoulder to see a young man, about her own age, running toward her, with a scyther fast behind him. She could tell, immediately, by his dress that he was a Pokemon Ranger. He was a tall man—blonde with broad shoulders. "Yes?" said Valor, raising one eyebrow.

"I'm sorry," he said. "But you can't go into the water. I just got a report about a swarm of tentacruel headed this way. No one's allowed into the water, miss."

Valor frowned. "That's just silly," she said. "I have pokemon. They're not push-overs. I'll be fine. Quenelle—"

The Ranger grabbed her by the wrist. "Please—listen to me," he said. "Tentacruel are very vicious, and there's a swarm coming this way. Don't go into the water."

She pulled her arm away. "I've fought tentacruel before," she said coldly. "I can handle a few more than usual."

"Please listen to reason," the young ranger implored her.

"Nope," said Valor, urging Quenelle on, into the water. "Hyah!"

The ranger sighed as Valor rode out into the ocean on her tauros' back. "That girl," he mumbled to his scyther. "Now we have to go out into the water and get her to come back to land before she hurts herself. What a pain."

"Syther!" agreed his pokemon.

The ranger pulled a greatball off his belt. "Ah, well. Nothing to it but to do it, right, Rip?"

"Scyther!" said the pokemon, nodding.

He threw out his greatball. "Go, Sting!"

With a flash, a mantine appeared in the water. "Maaantine!" said the pokemon, splashing about. Pokemon Ranger Taylor Blake leapt onto its back, followed by his scyther.

"Take us out, Sting," he said. "Get us to that tauros."

"Tine!" exclaimed the mantine, taking off. He raced through the water swiftly, gracefully skimming over the waves, and becoming airborne every now and again, just for a little while, as he raced off the crests of waves. Taylor and Rip crouched on his back, their faces turned toward the charging tauros ahead of them.

"Vui," said Miruna, as she caught sight of the pursuing ranger. Valor twisted her head around to look.

"Is he following us?" she said. "What a pain! I told him I could handle a few tentacruel!"

"Vui," said Miruna, standing up on her trainers shoulder. Valor shifted atop her steed so that she was facing backwards.

"Alright, Miruna!" said Valor. "Use swift—but try not to hurt him!"

"Eeevee!" said Miruna, drawing back. She released a stream of shining stars which rocketed at Taylor. Sting dodged out of the way, allowing the attack to pass harmlessly by.

"There we go," said Valor. She patted the eevee's head. "Now—"

She was cut short as Quenelle jerked to one side beneath her. The tauros thrashed against something in the water, which was pulling him down. "Auros!"

Valor leaned over to get a look at Quenelle's feet and saw a tentacle wrapped around it, trying to drag him under the water. "Fight it, Quen!" she exclaimed. Her eyes widened as she realized that the water was positively full of tentacruel and tentacool, bobbing about just beneath the surface, their eyes shining malevolently. "Quenelle—thunderbo—"

"Eevee!" exclaimed Miruna, nipping her ear. Valor winced, but knew immediately why she had done it; the pokemon ranger's mantine was in the water, too, and if Quenelle attacked electrically, it would end up hurting an innocent pokemon and, perhaps, also his rider.

"Change of plans, Quen," she said. "Stomp!"

The tauros reared up to attack, but another tentacle caught his leg and jerked on it. Valor dug her fingers into his fur and hung on tightly, but Miruna wasn't as lucky. The little eevee tumbled off her trainer's shoulder and plummeted towards the vicious sea of jellyfish pokemon below.

"Rip, the eevee!" shouted Taylor.

"Scy!" exclaimed the scyther, darting off the mantine's back. With awe-ing speed, Rip shot toward Miruna, catching her and carrying her to Taylor.

"Good work," said Taylor, rubbing the scyther's head. "But now we have to save the other two…" He frowned. "Alright—Sting, whirlpool! Rip, use fury attack!"

"Tiine!" said the water pokemon. A whirlpool began to form in the ocean, sucking the tentacruel and tentacool into its center. The scyther leapt into the air, and began slashing at the tentacruel nearest the surface with his sharp blades.

Quenelle was still struggling against one of the tentacruel, as it clung tighter and tighter to him. He reared and bucked, unseating his rider. Valor screamed and caught hold of the tauros' neck before she could fall into the sea below. Clinging tight as the pokemon continued to thrash about, she buried her face in the mane of his neck. "Quen, you have to calm down," she said. "I'm not going to let it drown you, but you have to be calm."

It was no use. Quenelle was working him up into a frenzy, as the jellyfish pokemon tried to pull him down. He cracked his tails and thrashed about as his trainer clung to him as tightly as she could. Taylor watched apprehensively, before turning to his scyther. "Rip!" he shouted. "Free the tauros first!"

"Scyther!" shouted Rip, turning and flying toward Quenelle. He made to slash at the tentacle gripping the other pokemon but Quenelle, worked up into a panic and fearful of an attack, threw out one of his free hooves, hitting Rip soundly in the head and knocking him back. Valor's hands were slipping. With a sharp intake of breath, she lost her grip completely, and plummeted into the water. Dazed, Rip could do nothing to help her as tentacool and tentacruel swarmed around her. On Sting's back, Miruna paced and yelped for her trainer, making to leap in after her.

"Stay here!" Taylor said to the eevee. Without another word, Taylor dove into the icy water.

The tentacruel swarmed around him, and he could feel Sting's whirlpool, pulling on the water. In the dark waters, he could see Valor, thrashing about as the throng of tentacruel tried to drag her down. He pulled a small knife from his pocket and swam toward her. Tentacool came at him, but he punched them in the face, discouraging them from attacking. On the surface, Rip managed to free Quenelle, and the tauros went running away, over the waves.

Taylor reached Valor and grabbed hold of her, slashing at the pokemon which had caught onto her with his knife. He left a gash on the tentacle of the offending monster and it recoiled, loosening its grip. As he swam upwards, he could feel Valor heavy against him, slipping out of consciousness. With an extra burst of speed, Taylor broke the surface. Sting hurried over to him, and he climbed on top of his pokemon, lugging Valor along behind him. He pressed down hard on her chest, hoping to get any water out, as Miruna looked on with apprehension.

Valor sputtered and opened her eyes slowly. She looked at the soaking wet Pokemon Ranger above her as, beneath them, the mantine made rapidly for Olivine City.

"I… I'm sorry," she said weakly.

"You don't have to apologize," said Taylor as she sat up. "I mean, it was stupid to go out here against a Ranger's advisement, but you don't have to apologize."

Valor frowned. "No, I meant to say 'I'm sorry—I don't think I caught your name.'"

He smiled faintly. "It's Taylor," he said. "And you?"

"Valor," she told him.

"Nice to meet you, Valor," he said, holding out his hand.

She looked at it and, instead of taking it, threw her arms around his shoulders and pulled him into a kiss.

A/N: Requested picture of Gaius defending Arden from Dixie is now up. Link's on my profile, like usual.