"Does that mean we can talk in detention now?"
"He is far too pumped for an occasion like this."
Protector of Silence
Chapter Six – Ranger Visit
Three things had happened in three weeks Kellyn had spent at Ranger School.
1. He learnt how to tie a, well, tie.
2. He faced Keith in at least four more 'competitions' of strength.
3. He was almost certain he had gone deaf. Keith was like a continuously blaring foghorn! And I mean continuous - they shared a room after all. He wondered how Ponte and the others hadn't gone deaf at all last year. After all, compared to all the others Kellyn was a late starter.
Today they were just finishing relearning about target clears. Keith, predictably, was sprawled over his textbook and snoring, fast asleep. In contrast, on Kellyn's other side, Rhythmi was sat up so straight Kellyn was surprised her spine didn't break. Ponte and Sami also looked like they were paying attention...a bit. Kate was in one of those day-dreaming periods where she would stare at a random corner of the classroom for long periods of time. Miss April was writing on the blackboard when she suddenly turned around and walked towards the class.
'Uh oh, Keith's in trouble' was the first thought to come to Kellyn and he elbowed the ginger ranger-wanna-be next to him. Keith didn't even stir, just proceeded to drool over his textbook.
"Keith Dazaru!" Keith startled awake at the sound of Miss April's voice particularly loud voice. Kellyn braced himself for the whirling of detentions to go out to the dozey boy, but Miss April then diverted her attention to Kate. "Kate Hitomi. Would you be kind enough to join us for this announcement?"
The announcement must have gotten through to Kate because she turned her head and smiled warmly at Miss April. Thank Arceus she was good at smiles, it was probably the only thing that kept her out of detentions. Keith needs to learn to love the sweet smiles.
"Class" Miss April finally addressed them all "I have a question. What day is today?"
Kellyn cocked his head to one side. What day was it? The simply answer would be Wednesday 4th October, but he had a feeling that wasn't what Miss April was getting at. Sami and Ponte knew though.
"Outdoor Class!" they both beamed.
'Oh yeah, Keith said something about there being an Outdoor Class this week when I first arrived. Something special was supposed to be happening today, that much I remember' Kellyn thought.
"Oh yes!" Keith's smile stretched all the way to Kanto "It today! We're going to meet an actual ranger today! I've already thought of like 38 questions to ask them!"
"Oh don't Keith!" Rhythmi groaned "That poor ranger has better things to do than listen to you rambling on and asking personal questions!"
"Whoever said they were personal?" Keith frowned.
"They always are!" answered Rhythmi.
"Are not!"
"Are too!"
"Are not!"
"Are too!"
Kellyn leant back as Rhythmi and Keith fumed across his desk.
'Yikes, they're like an old married couple!' was the only thought circling around Kellyn's head.
"Excuse me, Rhythmi, Keith" Miss April cleared her throat "Would you two like to pipe down or would you prefer to discuss this in detention this evening?"
"Wait" Keith's mouth was faster than his brain "Does that mean we can talk in detention now?"
"Keith Dazaru. I'd like you to stay behind this evening after Outdoor Class please."
As Keith groaned, Kellyn was almost glad he couldn't talk - so Miss April and Keith couldn't hear him cracking up. Ranger School had no far never failed to amuse him when he was bored.
"Anyway" Miss April continued "Let's meet up with the other class down in the Ascension Square."
Immediately everyone abandoned the classroom and headed down to the south-east corner of the school, down the stairs. Just before the pier, there was a large stone monument with the ranger's symbol carved on top of it called the Pledge Stone.
"Waahooo!" Keith cheered, punching the air "I've waited so long for an Outdoor Class!"
Rhythmi sighed, muttering: "Over-enthusiastic. He's way too pumped for an occasion like this."
Kellyn snorted with silent laughter. He noticed Kate just behind him and began walking beside her. He wrote her a message, quite bouncy as he was walking down stairs as he wrote:
Excited to see the ranger?
"Yeah!" Kate nodded, smiling "I mean, I've met three or four already."
Huh? Where?
"Four or five of them have a base in Vientown" Kate explained "When I transferred here from Fiore I stayed there briefly and met three of them. I wonder which one's coming over? Maybe Crawford, he normally does. Or maybe Luana; I hope so - she's a girl you see."
The information too much to compute, Kellyn just nodded. By now they were reaching the bottom of the steps.
"Kel! Kate!" Keith bellowed from somewhere up ahead "Hurry up! The ranger's already here! Some gangly guy with an absolutely enormous afro!"
"Crawford" Kate muttered, nodding to herself.
They joined the semi-circle of students surrounding Keith's gangly ranger. Sure enough, he had an afro, a brown one slightly lighter than Kellyn's hair-colour. He had brown eyes and wore a uniform consisting of a red jacket, a red styler and what appeared to be a grey t-shirt and pair of long grey shorts combined.
"Well it appears everyone is here" Principle Lamont spoke up - a friendly grey-haired man wearing spectacles. "Let's get this Outdoor Class started. This is Crawford. He's a graduate of this school and now a Pokémon ranger at the Vientown base."
The ranger named Crawford gave them all a cheeky grin. "Hey kids! I'm Crawford. Nice to meetcha."
"Hello Crawford!" All the kids but Kellyn unisoned "Thank you for coming!"
"Budew!" A little green Pokémon with a yellow face jumped out from behind Crawford. The ranger smiled at it.
"This is my partner Pokémon, Budew" he explained. There came a mixture of cries as four Pokémon flew down, two on the other two's backs. There was a Cherbi on top of a Combee and a green Roselia on top of a Swealow. The two non-flyers leapt down and stood near Budew.
"And these are my friend Pokémon" Crawford explained.
"Wow!" Some of the kids beamed "So cool!"
Miss April, who was standing outside the circle, stepped forwards, getting Crawford's attention. "Hello Crawford, it's been a long time. Still got that giant explosion of an afro. But enough of that, we're all here so let's get started."
Crawford nodded and mumbled something to the Pokémon. All but Budew flew back to the top of the cliff, probably waiting for him to finish. "You said something about them having questions?"
"Yes" Miss April nodded "Alright everyone, let the questioning begin."
Nick was the first to speak. "Crawford, why did you decide to become a ranger?"
"A good question" Crawford smiled "It's because I love Pokémon. I wanted to become friends with them, to bond with them. Besides, it's a cool job!"
Miss April shook her head and muttered something along the lines of: "Typical Crawford."
"That's the same way I feel!" Nick beamed "I'm glad I asked!"
"I have a question" said a brunette called Tamie, waving her hand in the air "Which kind of Pokémon are hardest to catch?"
"In my opinion, Ghost and Psychic-types" answered Crawford "Yeah, they have this habit in battle to just go poof!"
"G-Ghost Pokémon do that?" Tamie stuttered. Kellyn could tell by the look on Keith's face he was thinking along the same lines, but didn't say anything. Kellyn was busy thinking of a question. Finally one came to him and he opened his notebook, then grabbing his pencil from his jacket pocket.
"Me! Me next!" It was Rhythmi who spoke next "Ranger Crawford, I really want to be an Operator. There isn't anything I'd rather be. Do you think I could become one?"
Crawford had to consider this. "I'm only seeing you for the first time ever, so it's not like I'm sure or anything. But, sure thing! No problemo! If that's what you want to become, and you work hard at it, I defiantly don't see why not."
'This guy reminds me of Keith' Kellyn thought, looking up from his writing 'Note to self, never let them hang around with each other. Could be disastrous for health.'
But Rhythmi was practically bouncing up and down in excitement. "That's right! Those are the words I wanted to hear! Yes!"
"Er...Rhythmi, are you not getting a Pokémon ranger mixed up with a fortune-teller?" Keith asked "Anyway, my question! Have you ever made any mistakes?"
Kellyn nodded to himself. 'Yep, defiantly a good question for Keith. The amount of mistakes he makes...'
"Mistakes you ask? I made a lot of them when I first started" Crawford answered "Like the time I dumped juice all over my styler. Or the time I tried to capture a stuffed toy. Or the time I put my ranger uniform on over my pyjamas. And the..." He went red and took a step backwards "Hey! Come on! Enough! Stop making me admit all this stuff!"
Everyone, even Kellyn silently, laughed.
"Okay, um, here's my second question..." Keith began.
"Hey! Knock it off Keith! One question per person! Ranger Crawford's too busy to sit around answering your gazillion questions!" Becs interrupted roughly "Okay, my turn..."
As Becs asked her question, Kellyn frowned. He'd finished his question, but he had a problem. He elbowed Kate.
"Ow!" she hissed. He pointed down at his question, the at her, then at Crawford. "Oh, right!"
"...Yep, that's pretty much it" Crawford finished.
Kate cleared her throat. "Hey! Puffer!"
Crawford froze. "Only one person calls me by that name" he murmurred, then he smiled at Kate "Kate Hitomi! What a surprise!"
"Good to see you too Crawford" Kate grinned back "How is Luana and everyone?"
"Everyone's good back at base" Crawford nodded "Is that your question?"
"Er, no" Kate answered "My friend here Kellyn," she patted Kellyn's shoulder "He has a question. He wants to know what makes you glad about being a ranger."
"What makes me glad?" Crawford repeated "I have to say the big smiles we get after helping people or Pokémon. And the satisfaction you get knowing you've helped someone."
Kellyn nodded and wrote something that Kate read out.
"Kellyn says thank you" Kate explained "And that he hopes to see smiles like that someday too."
Crawford's eyes though rested on Kellyn. He stood there, watching him, trying to figure him out. He couldn't help but feel a little intimidated, but he was more than used to it - people tended to stare at him for his eyes or his muteness.
"Mr Ranger!" Liam made Crawford mercifully divert his attention "I have a question. Has Miss April ever been angry with you?"
"Are you joking?" Crawford grinned, looking at his former teacher "She only blew up on me like once every day!"
"You know that's not true" Miss April responded "It wasn't once a day. It was three times a day at least! Honestly, you, Luana and Elaine! The three of you may have been different ages and been at school for different allotments of time, but you caused even more trouble than Keith!" She shook her head in exasperation "But that's not the whole story kids. Crawford and Elaine were exceptionally bright pupils and helped Luana whenever she needed help catching up. Crawford kept everyone's spirits up with his kindness and sense of humour."
"Yep, sense of humour" Crawford cockily smiled "My jokes can't be topped! How else do we keep the Vien Town base from falling into a big pit of pessimism, especially with Barlow in charge!"
Everyone, Kate in particular, exploded into tears of laughter. They were all silenced though by a loud beeping noise. Budew began jumping up and down on the spot as Crawford flicked open the voicemail function on his styler.
"Hello?" he asked, tapping it, before smiling and clearing his throat "Ranger Crawford, in."
"Ranger Crawford!" A deeper voice responded, crackly over the radio and hard to hear "We have an emergency! A Mantine has become entangled in a fishing net in the Coral Sea. Sorry to interrupt, but I'm sending Luana with a boat to pick you up now."
"'Kay, meet ya there" Crawford nodded "Ranger Crawford, over and out."
He then performed his own ranger pose. Most of the students gasped how cool it was, all it did to Kellyn was make him make another mental reminder to come up with his own pose. Maybe a jump! Or would that make him look even shorter than he already was?
"Sorry to have to cut this outdoor class short Principle" Crawford turned to Principle Lamont "But this Mantine can't wait."
The principle nodded. "We understand."
"Hey! Crawford!" A boat pulled up by the pier and a female voice called out to the Afro-bearing ranger "Come on! We have a Mantine to save!"
"Comin' Luana!" Crawford called, then smiling at the kids "See ya later kids! I'll ask your principle to report back to you on the Mantine." With this he winked at Principle Lamont "Remember, keep at it and don't look back! Let's meet again some other time!"
He then rushed onto the pier and, as the boat began pulling away, performed a flying leap on deck. He gave them all a big wave before the boat disappeared from sight beyond the headland. There was a stunned silence for a few seconds.
"It's like we got to see an awesome scene!" Liam grinned finally.
"The boat's already tiny on the horizon..." Tamie commented.
"Well everyone" Principle Lamont got everyone's attention "That was the shortest Outdoor Class we've ever had. But it certainly was the most gripping and realistic one too."
"Okay everyone" said Miss April "Let's go back to our classrooms." Everyone left, accept for Keith, Rhythmi, Kate and Kellyn who all stood in the shade of the Pledge Stone.
"You know, I'm getting even more pumped up about becoming a ranger!" Keith grinned.
"Is that even possible?" Kate asked sarcastically.
The darker ginger of the two folded his arms with a sigh. "I've still got 37 questions to ask. But I think I'm going to find those answers myself!"
"A real ranger guaranteed I'll become an operator!" Rhythmi sighed dreamily, clasping her hands together.
"That are no guarantees on that" Kate put in "You have to grab hold of your dreams and make them come true!"
Kellyn full-heartedly agreed with her, nodding to show it.
"You think I don't know that?" Now Rhythmi had her arms folded too "I'm going to do it! I'll make my dream come true!"
"I'm going to too!" Keith punched the air "I'm not gonna loose when I have a rival like Kellyn!"
"Will I ever become a serious rival to you?" Kate sighed, becoming the third and final person to fold her arms. Her eyes strayed onto the stone monument beside them "Hey! I know! How about the four of us make a pledge here by the Pledge Stone? Let's pledge to each other to make our dreams come true!"
"You bet!" Rhythmi smiled.
"Alright, I'm in on this!" Keith cheered, punching the air again.
'Yeah!' Kellyn mirrored his main rival.
Keith and Rhythmi headed back towards the steps, but something was wrong with Kate. She was staring at him like he had just turned up at Almia Castle in swimming trunks. It was only as they approached the classrooms Kellyn realised why. When he agreed to the pledge back there, his voice had actually spoken.