Summer passed by relatively quickly for all four of the friends. They loved being with their families and old friends, but were eager to get back to school for their second year which would bring new opportunites than the first year did.
Well one more opportunity. Other than harder classes and more homework, the only thing that the new seconds years got to look forward to was the always exciting one day internship! It was a privilege that only second years and third years got.
The students who were passing got to travel around the region to work in their future field for one day. They had to wait until towards the end of the year to do so, but it was worth the wait.
"Second year students participating in the one day internship, please report to the front of the school. All others report to the rooms designated to you yesterday." Principal Lamont's voice came over the intercom. The students who were previous chattering away, all excitedly jumped out of there seats. They raced to the front of the school, leaving the students not qualified to go grumbling in their seats.
"Alright students, get with your designated partners. We will assign you your rangers bases momentarily." Ben ran over to Summer, giving her a brief smile. Alexis walked to her partner with a scowl present on her face. The boy whom she would be spending the day with flashed her a flirtatious smile.
Casey was partnered with a short girl who didn't appear very pleased with the situation. He, however, looked quite happy. The principal began calling off names, sending different students different places. "Casey and Ilana to the Union. Ben and Summer to Vientown. Alexis and
Jake to Pueltown. Michelle and..." The principal continued on as the three groups left.
Summer excitedly dragged Ben to their destination. Waving goodbye to her friends when they arrived. The two were quickly greeted when they entered the ranger base. "Hey guys. You here for the one day internship? Whoa, girl, what's with the scar on your arm?" A girl they recognized as Kate asked. Summer just laughed nervously, waving it off before looking around the small base. "Hey, what's that burning smell? Someone cooking?" Ben asked, looking towards the small kitchen.
Summer wrinkled her nose. "Yeah, I smell it too." Kate looked to the interns. "Burning? There's not even anything..." The spikey haired girl was interrupted when a burly man bursted into the base. "Kate! The forest is on fire! Get Luana and get out there!" The young ranger nodded before running off to find Luana.
"Are you two from the school?" The students nodded nervously at the intimidating man. "Arceus, I shouldn't be doing this... Can you two help us? We don't need you to try and put out the fire, but we do need to get the pokemon out." Summer and Ben looked at each other. Ben looked unsure, but Summer gave a confident smile. Ben took this as reassurance, and told the man they would.
"Sum. This is really dangerous, so stick close!" The girl snorted. "Sure, Ben. I'll try." Ben rolled his eyes before taking off to the forest. Summer did keep her promise though, and the two stuck together throughout the the mission. "Kay, I think we got 'em all. Let's get the injured ones fixed up." Summer stated, wrapping up a Cherubi's leg. "Okay. Give me..."
Ben was interrupted by a pokemon's distressed cry filling the air. The brunette's eyes widened in horror, and he turned his head toward the forest. "Ben? Oh, Ben you aren't. That fire has gotten terrible!" He just kept his eyes on the forest. The girl sighed. She knew there would be no convincing him. "Sum." Ben said simply.
"Just don't die. Okay?" She huffed, continuing to bandage and treat the forest's pokemon. The boy smiled, and rushed into the fire. He searched around desperately, coughing from the smoke.
He heard the cry again, and followed the sound. He was lead to a small area surrounded completely by trees except in one small area. In the center was a staravia with burnt feathers, and what looked like a broken wing.
Ben attempted to approach the pokemon, but it thrashed wildly. "Calm down!" He pleaded. "You'll hurt yourself!" The bird continued to thrash about. Ben pulled out his school styler, and proceeded to capture the bird. As soon as the capture was over, the staravia just squaked weakly. Ben picked the bird up, and walked toward the exit.
Before he could leave the enclosed area, the exit burst into flames. Ben backed away, only to find he was surrounded by fire. His eyes shifted around desperately, trying and failing to find a way out. Ben sat down with the bird, who was looking at him pitifully. "I'm...gonna die here. Aren't I?" He asked himself.
He looked at the pokemon. "It's okay, bud. If we're going, we're not going alone." Ben hugged the staravia and shut his eyes, waiting to be engulfed by the flames. He could hear Summer calling for him, but he chose not to call out. Suddenly it began to rain. The fire slowly but surely began to die. Ben's eyes popped open, and he sighed in relief.
"Oh man, I'm alive?" He grinned, and picked up the staravia once more. "Let's get outta here."
Ben exited the forest and sat the bird pokemon down. Summer ran to him and pulled him into an embrace. "You're an idiot..." She mumbled, crying into his shirt. "Hey, Sum, calm down. I'm fine." He hugged her gently. "Don't you ever. EVER. Do that again." Ben laughed. "No promises. Now let me treat the staravia."
He let her go and tended to the wounds of the bird. The pokemon were released back into the forest when Kate and Luana walked back out. The staravia, however, refused to leave. "Looks like he's taken a shining to you." Kate laughed. "Really? But... I can't bring him to the school." Ben frowned.
"How about this," Kate began, "I'll look after him, and when you graduate you can have him as your partner." Ben smiled gratefully at Kate, before turning to the staravia. "How bout it, bud? Wanna be my partner when I graduate?" The pokemon flapped its non-broken wing, and gave a soft cry. The brunette ranger laughed. "I'll take that as a yes."
"Let's get you two rookies cleaned up, so you can get back to school." Kate said, leading the the student rangers to the bathroom in the back of the base. After washing up, Ben wished his future partner a tearful goodbye. He and Summer left to go back to ranger school, excited to tell others about their exciting day.
Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon, nor do I own any of the characters.
A/N: I barely made the deadline. It's 11:55 right now. I don't know why, but this took a lot longer to write than I expected it to. This is going to be the only chapter I do for their second year at ranger school. I do plan to do two for the third year, though. I don't know where I should send Casey, Summer, Alexis, and Ben after school, though. Suggestions? No matter what, I'm going to focus on Summer. I won't write chapters about the other three if they aren't at the same base. I will have 2-4 chapters of Summer just doing regular ranger stuff before sending her to Oblivia. It won't be too boring though, I promise. Reviews, favorites, and follows are appreciated! Byeeeeeeee!