"You gonna issue me a detention?"
"It's time for democracy! Vote! Vote! Vote!"
Protector of Silence
Chapter Twenty-Four - The council of misfi...I mean fallen rangers
Nothing. Nothing but darkness. That was all that surrounded the table. Made of dark-grey stone with many cracks, big and small, weaving across its surface, it looked as if it had existed for thousands of years amongst the darkness. There were seven similar-looking chairs surrounding it: three on the left side, one on both of the far ends and two on the right side. Only one of the chairs was occupied. The left chair closest to the head of the table had a person sitting in it. A small boy of about 13, wearing a purple Fall City ranger uniform with dark hair and ice-blue eyes which were at the moment closed tight with thought. His elbows were propped up on the table whilst his chin was resting on his interlinked fingers.
The boy didn't look up as two new people approached the table. Both were female. One was in her mid-thirties with long blonde hair, but one could tell little else about her apart from that. She wore a Wintown ranger uniform with the badge of a ranger leader pinned onto it, but the white hood hid all put her piercing green glare.
The second woman was probably in her late-twenties. She wore a green and brown ranger uniform, the uniform of Summerland, and also had a leader's badge, but it was pinned strangely to a camo bandana she was wearing on her head. Her shoulder-length hair was tawny and her eyes a child-like blue.
"Hi Lind!" the second woman grinned as she approached, sounding a lot like a child "How's it going?"
Lind just stared blankly back at her. "Do you act hyper everyday, Erin?" he asked dryly.
"Nope, only on a Tuesday!" Erin grinned, then winked at him "Or when cute boys are involved!"
Lind deadpanned. "You think I'm cute?"
"Nuh-uh! It's a Tuesday!" Erin sat down in the second seat on the right.
"The Three Musketeers" the other woman groaned as she sat down in the third seat on the left, leaving a chair's gap between her and Lind.
"Oh lighten up Nevada!" Erin was still grinning! "Maybe you would find quoting cool too if you didn't spend all day in that emo corner of yours!"
Nevada didn't comment, just folded her arms and leant back in her stone chair. Realising Lind wasn't paying attention to her anymore, Erin got bored and started tapping her fingers on the table impatiently.
It was a few minutes before someone else turned up. A third female, this one younger though. She was about 15 or 16, a little older than Lind, with long brown curls cascading down her back and dancing brown eyes. She didn't wear a ranger uniform, and the only indication she was one was the styler strapped at her hip. She wore a long flower-pink skirt and a frilly pink shirt with little plastic buttons shaped as white daisies.
"Larky!" Erin jumped up from her seat and grabbed the girl in a huge bear-hug. The girl was caught off balance and almost fell over, but Erin's hug gave her time to regain her balance.
"G'day Lark" Lind smiled and waved, happy to see someone close to his age now.
"Hello Lind" Lark smiled awkwardly over Erin's shoulder "Er...Erin. Can you please let go of me?"
Erin quickly realised she was suffocating the girl and let go, grinning now sheepishly as she slivered back into her seat. Lark took the seat between Lind and Nevada.
Several more minutes passed. Finally, two more figures made their way out of the darkness. These were both males. One was in his late-twenties and wore a purple Fall City uniform and ranger leader badge. His longish brown hair passed his ears and his brown eyes were fixed on the floor as his boots kicked up the dust. This man was very small, but in comparison the man at his side was as tall as a parade float! He was tall and skinny with a mass of red hair on top of his head. Not red like you see on ginger kids, I mean really flaming-red! He wore the standard Ringtown ranger uniform and leader badge, but there were a bunch of keychains hanging from his shorts connecting either end to the loops of his belt that made a chinkling noise as he walked.
"Hey Rafe! Jeffy!" Erin smiled and waved.
Rafe, the brown-haired man, waved back and took the seat next to Erin. 'Jeffy' just snorted and took his place at he head of the table. He didn't sit down, but scanned the darkness around them with scowling brown eyes.
"He's late" he finally growled.
"Don't tell me you didn't expect it, Jethro" Nevada snorted.
"Chillax guys, he'll be here in a minute" Rafe rested his head on top of his folded arms on the table.
"How do you know for sure?" Lark asked.
Rafe shrugged. "I don't."
"Finding Nemo!" Erin put in out of nowhere.
Lind facepalmed. A lot of the others echoed his sentiments.
Jethro growled, but not at Erin. "The little traitor..."
"Calm down. I'm coming."
Everyone turned their heads to the far end of the table. After a few seconds, a very familiar face made its way out of the shadows and sat down in his chair opposite Jethro.
"You're late Lunick" Jethro said in a low voice.
Lunick, rather arrogantly, shrugged. "You gonna issue me a detention?"
Jethro either couldn't find a comeback or simply couldn't bothered to come up with one, because he let the matter drop and sat down.
"Where were you?!" Nevada demanded.
Lunick shrugged again and answered: "Busy."
"Sleeping" Lind added.
"That, and other things" Lunick looked at him with an unreadable look on his face. "You look tired."
Lind groaned and rested his head in his hands.
"Don't remind me" he groaned "I had to keep Kellyn from poking into Keith's mind three times! He's as stubborn as you are and a real headache! No pun intended."
Lunick froze. Kellyn was entering other people's minds? Oh~. Now this whole emergency meeting made so much more sense. Of course a telepathic psychic being was going to catch the council's attention.
Jethro cleared his throat and got their attention. As the red haired man got to his feet, Lunick took his seat.
"We all know what The Council of Fallen Rangers was built with one purpose: To protect the rangers and their partners below, as well as the ordinary citizens" Jethro begun his little speech. Erin, who like the others had heard this opening many times, was mouthing the words along with him a little sarcastically. Jethro's eyes narrowed, and she stopped "However, it has recently come to my attention there is a psychic being within Almia, attempting to become ranger." As whispers rippled across the table, Lunick kept his mouth sealed, his aqua eyes flashing dangerously and his fists clenching inside his gloves. Jethro silenced them all with a single look. "How has this psychic being been unnoticed for so long? Well, it seems this child was under the effect of a cloaking charm, that has recently weakened due to a new telepathic ability."
Jethro now looked directly at Lunick. The teenager glared dangers in Jethro's direction, as if daring him to go on. Jethro didn't, but Rafe did.
"Seriously? Another one? I thought we took care of the psychics when Mr Clairvoyant came to join us" Rafe tilted his head towards the end of the table.
Lunick still said nothing.
"So why is it still alive?" Nevada grunted "We passed judgement on the psychic beings long ago."
"Those were the old rules!" Erin put in "Now, we get to vote for new rules! It's time for democracy! Vote! Vote! Vote! Ow!" She stopped banging her fist on the table and glared at Jethro. "What did you just throw at me?!"
"If I told you, you'd never stop complaining about it" was the only truthful answer she got.
Erin folded her arms and pouted. Rafe flicked the table repeatedly, getting bored already.
"Surely we're sticking to the same rules as before?" Lark asked, blinking at Jethro.
"A decade after they were put to use" Lunick grunted.
Jethro glared at him to shut him up. The last thing he needed was a war of words between Lunick and the rest of the council - Lunick would most likely win.
"So we've been called here to decide if the psychic being lives of dies?" Lind asked. He said this like he was talking about the weather.
"In a nutshell" Jethro nodded.
"Well, this is going to be one interesting debate" Nevada grumbled, casting a glare over at Lunick.
Rafe flicked the table again. This time though, his nails nicked a little pebble in the table and it went flying.
"Ow!" Lark rubbed her forehead where the pebble had hit her. Rafe mumbled an apology.
"Well I..." Lunick began.
"Oh here it comes!" Rafe groaned. Lunick glared at him, not deterred at all by the age difference.
"As I was saying!" Lunick hissed "I have the strong belief anything innocent deserves a chance to live. So I'm naturally against this debate."
"Of course to you psychic beings are innocent" Lind folded his arms.
Lunick groaned. "Not you too."
But Lind somehow heard it and countered. "I can't have my opinion? I stopped being your lackey the second I got this place on this council."
"I never accused you of being my—"
"Moving on!" Jethro pressed "As we all know, the psychic beings have the potential to be very dangerous, and if they were to ever fall into the wrong hands they could cause catastrophic damage."
"You talk about them as if they were objects" Rafe commented. He was resting his head on top of his folded arms again, plainly not interested in debate club.
"For the sake of this debate we must treat them as such."
Without warning, an icicle shot across the table and shattered upon making impact with the back of Jethro's chair, centimetres away from his head.
"Temper Lunick" Jethro warned, brushing some ice shards off his shoulder before they could melt.
Lunick shrunk back in his chair uncomfortably. "Sorry, just needed to get it out of my system" he told his almost-victim.
"Anything else you need to 'get out of your system'?" Jethro asked.
"Yeah, about 50 rants that wouldn't be suitable for minors to hear, but for now I'm okay" Lunick answered.
"You're not gonna throw anything dangerous at me, are you Moony?" Rafe asked, now a bit nervous.
Lunick shook his head. "If you don't purposely try and wind me up."
"He only throws stuff at people he annoys or gives a reason to hate him" Jethro clarified.
Rafe exhaled. "That's one heck of a long list."
"Back to what Jethro was saying" Lunick waved the conversation away "I personally made sure Kellyn fought for the side of light. He is not a harm to himself nor society. He will never 'fall into the wrong hands'."
"The fact you made sure of this doesn't put my worries at ease" Jethro shot back coolly.
"Owned!" Rafe burst into a fit of laughter, making both Jethro and Lunick blink in confusion.
"Does anyone notice all the females seem to be not including themselves in this conversation?" Lind piped up.
Big mistake.
Immediately Erin leapt to her feet.
"Oh, so you think boys get to make all the decisions huh?!" she yelled at him.
Lind squirmed uncomfortably under her glare. "No! No, that's not what I was..." He began stammering, but Erin never let him finish.
"Sexist! Sexist! Sexist!"
Nevada groaned. Lark wasn't sure how to react. Lind just stared at Erin, unsure of what to do, wanting to do something but knowing there was no point in shutting the stable door after the Ponyta had bolted. Jethro began repeatedly banging his head off the table. Rafe sat back to watch the show, grinning.
"EVERYBODY SHUT UP!"
Two fists smashed into the table so hard the opposite end actaully lifted up and smashed Jethro in the chin. The red-headed man frowned as he rightened his jaw.
"Was that really necessary?" he asked.
Lunick removed his now very sore fists from the table, the flames on them seemingly evaporating and leaving no trace on his hands or gloves, and straightened. Well, at least Erin had stopped shrieking.
"Sorry, but we weren't getting anywhere."
"Well, it would be nice if you actually trusted us for once" Rafe offered.
"Trust you!" Lunick was practically livid now "Give me one reason why I should trust you! Out of the six of you, four have tried to kill me in the past and one of you darn well nearly succeeded!"
Lind began running his finger across a crack in the table with a mutter of: "It was only an accident..."
Jethro and Nevada said nothing but pointedly looked elsewhere. Lark looked at the others, shocked at this statement. Rafe shrunk back in his seat, attempting to look even smaller than normal. Only Erin found a reason to find this amusing. She jumped to her feet, banged her fist on the table and, with a grin and dramatic flourish of her arm, pointed at Lunick with a cry of:
"Aha! Pirates of the Caribbean! Nice quote!"
Then, rather stupidly, she began to applaud.
Lunick just looked stunned speechless. Jethro shook his head in exasperation. Rafe and Lark really didn't know what to say. Nevada shook her head too, muttering:
"Summerland must have been very short of rangers when she was chosen to become leader."
Lind leant over to Lark and murmured:
"Is she supposed to be 28 or just 8?"
"It wasn't supposed to be a movie reference, Erin" Lunick informed her finally.
Not at all bothered all eyes were on her, Erin sat down again, still grinning.
"Wonder if there's anyone at this table who called me here because they actually liked me?" Lunick muttered, sitting down again, slumped in his seat.
Lark raised her hand with a gentle smile. "You've got a friend in me, Lunick."
It worked and encouraged Lunick to smile again.
...and then Erin just had to ruin the moment.
"Toy Story! Nice work Lark!"
Everyone but Lark and Erin groaned. Jethro was fuming.
"Do you have the capacity to keep your mouth shut for 30 seconds?!" he hissed.
Erin considered this. "Nope!" she grinned, shaking her head.
Jethro also shook his head, but in disbelief.
"I'm starting to wonder if we actually choose worthy rangers to join the council, or if we just haul anyone off the street" Rafe mumbled.
"Pot kettle black" Lind grunted, folding his arms and leaning back in his chair.
"I don't think you should be throwing around that statement so easily" Nevada added "I mean, who are you to this council? You're not a leader, or a guardian. You're just a waste of space."
That started an uproar. Immediately everyone began talking at once at different pitches. Jethro rolled his eyes, stuck his fingers in his mouth and whistled. Everyone stopped and looked at him.
"Valuable or not, the members of this council were brought together for one thing, and one thing only" Jethro reminded them in a loud voice "To protect the rangers and their partners below, as well as the ordinary citizens. The psychic beings pose a threat to them, and that is why we must decide whether to take this matter into our own hands. That is why we will vote whether this child needs to be destroyed."
On the word 'vote', everyone sat up straighter in their seats. There was an unreadable expression in Lunick's eyes, but hate was obviously part of it.
"I vote: Aye" Jethro announced "Rafe?"
The brown-haired man exhaled a puff of air, rolling his shoulders and folding his arms behind his head.
"Well, I know whatever I say can and will be thrown back in my face" Rafe decided "So I'm probably better off just going with majority vote." He turned his head towards Lunick "Sorry Moony, but it's Aye for me."
Lunick's clenched fists tightened, but he seemed to understand Rafe's decision.
"Erin?" Jethro sighed as he called her.
The tawny-haired woman tapped her finger against her chin. "Let's see..." she considered this "Kellyn, Kellyn, Kellyn...well, I he kinda reminds me of Harry Potter, orphaned (sort of) and alone without any real answers whilst trying to follow the legacy of his family...and since Harry gets a happy ending, I think Kelly should too!" She turned and beamed innocently at Jethro and Nevada "Plus, I wanna see the priceless looks on your faces! In the words of Boston Legal: 'The Nays have it!'"
Jethro face-palmed, but he had been expecting such a ridiculous answer from of Erin. Nevada blew a strand of blonde hair out of her eyes. Rafe gave Erin a thumbs up, probably for sticking up for what she believed in, unlike the coward called himself. Lunick gave a silent victory cheer. Then he stopped as Jethro looked at him with hard brown eyes.
"I don't think I need to ask you to state your answer" Jethro grumbled "Nevada?"
The green-eyed woman folded her arms. She stated sharply: "I think you all can guess what I'm going to say. Need I remind you all why I'm here rather than down below? Because of a psychic being."
"He died in that explosion too!" Lunick protested "You had to go in and rescue him!"
Nevada's eyes narrowed. "I went back inside because Elita and her silent companion insisted I did" she clarified "It was hardly voluntary."
"It's part of the rangers' code to swear to protect both humans and Pokémon from any threat, anywhere" Lark pointed out, rather nervously.
Nevada looked at the smaller girl out of the corner of her eye. "You consider them human?"
Everyone's head snapped to look at the end of the table as a loud crash sounded. Lunick's eyes were practically pure white, psychic powers activated, his fists encased in ice. The ice was what had allowed Lunick to smash his fists into the table hard enough to dent it without shattering every bone in his hands.
"Abilities in check, Lunick" Jethro warned him, trying to act quickly before Nevada's second death could come about.
Seething with anger but not wanting to make Jethro any angrier, Lunick banished the ice around his fists, but didn't unclench them.
"Oh come on, Aye or Nay, Nevada?" Rafe rolled his eyes, apparently bored now.
Nevada seemed to mirror his emotions. She simply said: "Aye."
Lunick didn't react, everyone had been expecting this answer from Nevada. Now though, the decision rested in the hands of two of the youngest members of the council. Realising it was her turn, Lark shifted uncomfortably in her seat.
"D-Do I have to vote?" she asked nervously "I-I don't think I should vote whether or not someone should live or die."
"You have to vote, Lark" Jethro pressed "You've earned your place in this council just as much the rest of us."
"Most of us" Nevada snipped. Her gaze flickered over to Lind, who tried to ignore her but visibly shivered.
Lunick tried to probe into the younger boy's mind to confirm his suspicions about what he was thinking about, but almost immediately he hit a mental block.
'Argh! I should've never taught him how to do that!' Lunick growled inwardly. He was distracted though as Lark sat up a little straighter.
"Well, I don't think it's really fair on the poor child" she began, despite the fact she could only be about 15 or 16 herself "He's not to blame for being a psychic being. So, I don't really think he should be punished as such." Her brown gaze trailed down to the table "Besides, I made a promise to his father I would protect Kellyn. He was a brave and noble ranger, and it would be unkindly of me to abandon that promise now." She now turned to Jethro "I think his father would be disappointed in you already Jethro. If you will forgive me for speaking out like this, I believe he would be disheartened to find his mentor has condemned his son to death." She shook her head, her chin raised "I vote Nay."
Erin let out a whoop and raised her hand to high-five Lark, but let it drop after receiving a look from Jethro. Lunick was grateful for Lark's cooperation, but knew Kellyn wasn't out of the woods yet. The vote was tied, and there was only one member left to vote.
All eyes turned to the youngest member of the council.
Thirteen-year-old Lind had his gaze fixed on the darkness above, miles away. He was silent for a long time, and just when they were all sure Lind was never going to speak, his voice came out so quiet Lunick and Erin at the other end of the table had to strain to hear despite the deathly silence of their surroundings.
"I used to hate the psychic beings. They all fled the warring regions during the Great War. I thought they should have stayed to help us, saved many lives, including mine. But now, I realise, it's not their fault. They fled the regions so their powers couldn't be misused, and stayed away to avoid us passing judgement of them and preserve their abilities for generations to come. They were brave."
Lind turned his head towards Jethro, his ice-blue gaze dull but not out of boredom "I have never doubted your judgement before Jethro, and I didn't think I ever would. But this time, I have to stand up for what I believe in." He looked down the table at Lunick and raised his chin "I vote Nay."
Erin jumped up out of her seat and started doing a victory dance. Rafe looked like he wanted to do the same, but Jethro's piercing gaze wouldn't let him - having apparently forgotten he voted Aye. Lark smiled happily. Nevada rolled her eyes. Jethro scowled. Lunick gave a gasp of relief and rested his forehead on the edge of the table; he'd been holding his breath so long he felt like he'd been punched in the gut. Lind didn't really react.
"Alright Lunick" Jethro rose from his seat again, his voice a growl "The child will live. I trust you will appoint yourself as his guardian. However..." he rose to an even greater height "Should he cause any harm to Almia or indeed any region, I will personally bring judgement upon both him and his guardian."
Rather than being intimidated, Lunick stood up and nodded.
"I will keep him in line, sir" he agreed.
Jethro gave a small thoughtful nod.
"I believe this meeting sees no point in continuing any further" he announced "Meeting adjourned."
He quickly left the table and disappeared into the darkness. Rafe clambered to his feet and gave Lunick's hand a shake so hard it almost pulled his arm right out of its socket.
"Good job Moony!" he grinned before hurrying after Jethro.
Erin squealed, leapt to her feet and grabbed Lunick in a bone-crushing hug. She swung him around once before skipping off into the shadows, chanting her congratulations in the form of many 'jolly' movie references.
Nevada merely got to her feet and left without a word.
"You're pushing it you know."
Lunick looked over to Lind who pushed his chair back and walked over to the other dark-haired male.
Lunick shrugged as the two of them walked away from the table. "Meh, Jethro can't touch me. It's Kellyn I'm worried about."
"It's not fair!"
Both turned around to look at Lark. She was at the very end of the table where Lunick had previously been standing, her fists lightly clenched and her face depicting something close to pain.
"What's not?" Lind asked.
"Nevada and Jethro! The way they treat you!" Lark's eyes were wide with horror at the fact they didn't realise "They look down on you Lind! And Lunick, Nevada didn't even believe you were human!"
The boys' slight smiles didn't even falter.
"Relax Lark, I get looked down upon all the time" Lind smiled "I wouldn't be here if you and Lunick hadn't pulled every string in the book."
"Yeah, we're used to it" Lunick agreed "Besides, you can see where Nevada's coming from."
There were now tears running down Lark's beautiful face.
"The two of you...you don't care..." she swallowed her tears.
Lind shook his head and left. Lunick held Lark's brown gaze for a few more seconds.
"About me, I don't care. But if anyone ever tried to hurt Kellyn, then I would care."