"So, is there a reason you're asleep in the corner of our dorm room?"
"Just who are you?"
Protector of Silence
Chapter Fourteen – Starlight Capture
"So who is he again?" Keith blinked as he looked at the silver-haired stranger asleep under a blanket in the corner of the dorm. His Umbreon slept beside him, now and again nudging its master's hand with its nose.
If I'm quite honest, I haven't got a clue
"Seriously?" Keith groaned and face-palmed "Kate, where are you getting these guys from? The lunie-bin?"
Kellyn's eyes narrowed at the mention of being referred to as a lunie, but kept quiet.
"He's not a lunie Keith, he's just a bit...different" Kate bit her lip "You'll see when he wakes up."
Kellyn tilted his head to the side and wondered what had gone down between Kate, Principle Lamont and this stranger in the headmaster's office that he resulted in him staying at Ranger School.
"So, you have no idea who this guy is?" Keith asked again.
"Not even a name" Kate nodded "His possessions are few, only the Umbreon's Pokéball and that." She pointed at something in a pouch at his hip. Keith's jaw dropped.
"Is that a...capture styler?!" he practically shrieked "A real one instead of these silly school ones?!"
"Yup" Kate nodded "He's not like any ranger I've ever seen though."
Just then, Kellyn heard a low moan escape the stranger's throat as he stirred.
"Hey" Kate said softly, kneeling down so she was level with him "You okay?"
As Kellyn first thought, the stranger had golden-brown eyes that hazily opened and looked at Kate.
"W-Who are you?" he rasped "W-Where am I?"
"You're at Ranger School in the south of Almia" Kate smiled cheerfully "I don't suspect you'll remember me from last night, but my name is Kate." She gestured over her shoulder at the boys "And those are Kellyn and Keith."
The stranger looked at the two boys for a long time, almost as if assessing them. Kellyn had a suspicious feeling the stranger paid more attention to him than Keith, but pushed his worries aside as the silver-haired boy turned to Kate again.
"Ranger School?" he asked "Why am I here?"
"That's...a good question" Kate bit her lip "We hoped you may be able to answer that."
"Who are you exactly?" Keith butted in.
The stranger bit his lip. "I...I don't know. All I remember is my star sign is Taurus and I'm 14-years-old. That's it though."
Kellyn's eyes widened. 'Is that what Kate meant by strange? That he's an amnesiac?'
Luna trotted over to the Umbreon. The white Espeon wasn't normally allowed inside the school during daylight, but she was just as curious about this silver-haired stranger and his Pokémon as the humans were.
"Hi!" She raised a paw in greeting.
The Umbreon shivered and wordlessly took a step back, rubbing it's head against the stranger's arm.
"Nice to meet you! I'm Eclipse of the Dark Moon! But most people call me Luna!" Luna continued, beaming gleefully.
The Umbreon continued to tremble, managing to stutter: "S-Shadow of the W-Willow Trees."
Kellyn guessed that was its name.
"Easy Shadow" The stranger ran his hand down the Umbreon's back. Immediately the Pokémon untensed and gave off what might have been a purr. The stranger sighed "I wish I was capable of remembering my own name instead of just yours."
"Maybe that means you were really close to Shadow then" Kate said as comfortingly as possible.
"Where are you from?" Luna enquired.
Shadow flinched and jumped over his master's legs, apparently attempting to hide from Luna.
'Talk about nervous' Kellyn thought 'Total opposite to Luna.'
"So, is there a reason you're asleep in the corner of our dorm room?" Keith asked.
The stranger just blinked so Kellyn explained things:
We think a meteor fell and the blast smashed him against a tree. He was so tired, he practically fell asleep whilst talking to Principle Lamont. I offered him my bed, but when I came back he was already asleep where he is now.
"Oh" Keith nodded, understanding.
Kate held her hand behind her shoulder to tell him to shut up. The stranger raised a hand to his mouth, squeezed his golden-brown eyes shut and silently yawned.
"You're still tired?" Kate asked. The stranger nodded blearily "You get some sleep then. We've got a class to get to."
But before she had even finished speaking the stranger was asleep.
"Talk about tired" Keith commented "Wonder what happened to him."
'Don't we all?' Kellyn thought.
"It's official. I HATE GEOGRAPHY!"
We're just learning to read maps. It's not like you've been asked to revise the names of all the towns in Sinnoh
"But they're not even maps of Almia!" Keith was quite literally pulling his ginger hair out "Why do we have to study maps of Hoenn of all places?! There are too many islands! I can't keep up with it all!"
What are you talking about? We're stuck with Hoenn because you, Sami and Ponte were moaning about having to study Orre 'The Land of All Thing Sandy'!
"I did?" Keith rubbed the back of his neck "I'm pretty sure that was just Ponte."
Nope, you and Sami added your two cents in as well
Keith snorted and shook his head as if he was in utter denial. Kellyn just rolled his eyes. The day Keith admitted to something that was his fault was the day he handed in his styler.
They entered the dorm and immediately realised something was missing.
"Where'd that amnesia guy go?" Keith asked.
Kellyn shrugged, wondering exactly the same thing.
"Hey Keith!" The two boys turned around to see Nick leaning in the door "Capture challenge, you up for it?"
"Alright!" cheered Keith, punching the air "Tell Liam we'll be right there!"
Nick disappeared down the stairs. Keith and Kellyn went to follow him, but Kate quickly stepped in their path.
"You're having a capture challenge?" she asked. They nodded "Can you take Starlight too? He's sitting on the hill outside. I think he's bored."
The boys blinked. Then they double blinked. Then triple blinked.
What did you just call him?
"Huh? Starlight" Kate replied "We found him next to a fallen star. Plus his hair's silver."
Keith face palmed and groaned: "Kate, you can't call him Starlight!"
"Why not?" Kate cocked her head to one side.
"It's patronising" Keith answered.
"Do you even know what that means?"
"Not exactly, but I get the concept."
"Well I..." Kate began, then just looked annoyed "Why am I even wasting my time arguing with you? You always want the last word Keith! Geez, I'm just trying to make the poor guy feel included! Maybe you should try it!"
She stomped her foot once and then stormed off in the direction of the library.
The boys watched her leave, both a little blown back by her sudden outburst. They blinked, then blinked again.
"Wow" commented Keith, a little stunned "I didn't know she had it in her."
He looked at Kellyn, who gave him a look Keith recognised, but didn't like.
"I'm not apologising to her!" Keith fought back "I didn't do anything!" Kellyn gave him a hard glare and Keith gave a relenting sigh "Fine. I'll go. You go find, ahem, 'Starlight'."
Keith turned to leave, but Kellyn cleared his throat and got his attention again.
And mean it!
Keith muttered something incoherent before disappearing in his nap room.
Rolling his eyes, Kellyn took the steps two at a time. Stepping out into the open, he looked around for the stranger. It didn't take him long, the silver-haired boy was lying on the hillside, staring up at the evening sky with Luna and Shadow curled up either side of him.
'This guy really has a thing with Pokémon' Kellyn thought, approaching the stranger. He cleared his throat to get the older boy's attention.
"Oh, hi" the stranger smiled, sitting up "Um...Kevin wasn't it?"
It's Kellyn. But don't worry, not a lot of people get it the first time
"Oh, okay, sorry" the stranger said "Are you the master capturer Eclipse has been to on about?" He gently stroked the back of the sleeping Luna. Kellyn smiled and was about to write something, but then frowned, crossed it out a wrote a separate question:
You can understand Pokémon too?
"Apparently, we've just been getting to know each other" the stranger gently patted the still-sleeping white Espeon's head "Eclipse here says she's the unofficial partner Pokémon of a mute 'master capturer'. I judged by the way you didn't say a word this morning, you were the mute capturer she was talking about."
Kellyn's cheeks flushed as the sudden high praise.
I wouldn't say a master capturer. And there's no way Luna would ever give praise like that to my face.
The stranger laughed.
"You call her Luna, huh?" he asked. Kellyn nodded "And I'm guessing that by the way you can understand Pokémon, you know this companion of mine is called Shadow." He smiled at the Umbreon at his side that was snoring ever so lightly.
Do you have a name yet?
The stranger simply shook his head and gave the notebook back.
Kate's been calling you Starlight
"Starlight?" The stranger related. Kellyn nodded. The older boy looked thoughtful for a few moments, staring up at the reddening sky "Actually, it's not too bad. I suppose I can live with it until I find out my real name."
The boys are holding a capture challenge down in the Ascension Square. Do you want to join in?
"A capture challenge?" Starlight's face positively lit up at the thought "Yeah! Sure! I'll come! I need to meet some of these people anyway."
They left Luna and Shadow to their naps as they headed down the stairs towards the Ascension Square.
Nick and Ponte had never been big fans of the actual capturing competition. Therefore it was their job to find as many Pokémon to capture as possible and herd them in the Ascension Square. Kellyn was impressed with the line-up they had today. Where did they get a Charmander from? Had that thing always been hanging around here?
Normally they were three or four people competing, but today there was five. As the reining champion, Keith went first. He had a minute to capture as many of the Pokémon as he could. He got eight, which was a little less than his record, but more than Kate who got six. Liam went next, and utterly failed with only four. He mumbled some excuse about the setting sun getting in his eyes before pouting and sulking cross-legged on the Pledge Stone.
Kellyn went next. He was used to the biweekly events on Friday evenings and knew how to cope under the pressure newbies often felt. For a minute everything was a blur. He was capturing Pokémon left and right. Finally he heard Ponte blow his whistle and stopped, just finishing the Budew capture in the nick of time.
"Seven!" Nick called, he was referee with the stopwatch "Nice one Kellyn! You're getting better!"
Kellyn smiled a thank you before going to sit with Kate at the base of the Pledge Stone.
"Alright Starlight, you're up!" Nick called the silver-haired boy leaning against the Pledge Stone.
Starlight leapt onto the dusty ground and looked at Nick. "So I capture as many Pokémon as I can, right?"
"That's the idea" Ponte answered "You ready?"
Starlight nodded. He let the antenna of his proper ranger styler materialise.
"Three, two, one..." Ponte blew the whistle. Automatically Starlight sprung to an impossible height in the air.
"Capture...on!" he called.
The capture disk was released.
Kellyn didn't know where to look. Starlight was better suited to aerial attacks and there was barely a moment the boy was the ground. Silver streams of light shone golden in the dying sunlight as Pokémon were capture left, right and centre.
The whistle blew. Starlight landed on the ground again, snatching his capture disk from the air and turning away from the Tailow he'd been about to capture.
Nick's jaw dropped. "Twelve Pokémon in a minute?! That's a Pokémon captured every five seconds!"
Starlight shrugged like this wasn't a big deal.
"Hey, that beats Keith's record of ten!" Liam grinned "We have a new champion, our mysterious newbie: Starlight!"
Kate and Kellyn were among those who clapped their congratulations. Keith wasn't.
Starlight seemed unmoved by any of this. He jut stood there, his eyes almost a dull copper and his silver hair blood-red in the almost dead light. He then walked past them and up the steps without a word. Halfway up, Luna and Shadow sprung down into his arms; Kellyn was glad Nick, Ponte and Liam were too busy whispering to each other to notice. Not bowled over form the sudden attack, Starlight carried the two Eeveelutions up the steps out of sight over the crest of the hill.
'A single amnesiac ranger with that much skill?' Kellyn thought 'This may not be an original question, but just who are you Starlight?'