Chapter XX – Chain Reaction
Keith and Alexa approached a wide river in the chilly Sophian Island in the Oblivia region; Reese immediately began to frolic in the crispy cold water flowing by, but the Chandelure hovering near Alexa kept a cautious eye on the little Buizel, watching for any splashing in his direction. Keith and Alexa's Pokémon Ranger uniforms were relatively creased, as though they were due or overdue for laundering, and the soles of their shoes were stained with dried mud that not even the river's current could wash off. The Rangers themselves, however, appeared to be immensely crabby.
"It hasn't even been a day...not ONE day...yet we're already on another mission," Keith grumbled.
"I don't like it any more than you do, but we can't ignore something like this," Alexa argued reasonably as she and Keith began to walk up the river, treading against the flow of the current. The water wasn't very deep; it went no further than half way up their shins. "C'mon, Franz."
"Chandelure," Franz said compliantly as he hovered after her. Through the corner of his orange eye, he looked back at the bathing Buizel; his twin tails were spinning together as he swam after Keith and Alexa.
"So two Pokémon are having a spat; what's the big deal?" Keith complained.
"The fact that they're having it in the ruins up ahead," Alexa explained, trying to maintain a professional manner. "It's important to the residents of Sophian Island that the ruins are left as untouched as humanly possible."
"So what's the plan, then?" Keith asked, speeding up his pace and unintentionally distancing himself from his partners. "We calm them down with our stylers and you give 'em some psychiatric pep talk?"
"I don't know about the last one, but-"
"Yeah, well, here's hoping that-" Alexa's sudden shriek cut Keith's sentence short and panicked him a little as he turned around to face her; before he could call her name, he realised that she wasn't in the kind of distress he was presuming – a Sewaddle fell from one of the trees alongside the river and was caught in Alexa's hair, making her tangles even worse.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!"
"What's wrong?!" Keith asked in complete bafflement.
"She's stuck in my hair...!" Alexa replied through her teeth as she tried to endure the sharp pains from the top of her head.
"Sewaaah...!"
"J-J-Just stay still, okay?" Alexa said quietly. "Franz, c-can you-"
"Lure," Franz nodded. His orange and yellow eyes shone in a snow white light moments before the same glow veiled Alexa's tangled mess of her hair. Alexa occasionally flinched as her Chandelure very carefully untangled the worst knots in her hair, eventually freeing the startled Sewaddle.
"Whew...thanks, Franz," Alexa said with complete relief as she held her left arm to her shoulder, allowing the Sewaddle to climb onto her hand. "Try not to climb up too high, okay? Branches get thinner as you go up."
"Sewaddle," the Sewaddle nodded as Alexa returned her to the tree she presumably fell from. Sewaddle walked into the hole in the tree trunk as Alexa returned to Keith's side; his confusion had changed into a look of discontent. Alexa didn't appreciate the look he was giving her.
"Get back to me when you know what a bad hair day is."
"Let's just get this over with," Keith sighed as he walked further up the river. Alexa motioned the Pokémon to follow them as she resumed her trek; Franz and Reese followed, beginning to worry about their human companions.
The two Rangers eventually made their way inside the ruins and approached a pathway that almost looked flooded; there was a plentiful amount of water around the broken up stone pathway, which was almost completely covered with slimy green moss that also grew in small patches on the walls lining the pathway, with statues of some kind of ancient armour were placed inside the indents of the walls and appeared free from any sort of moss. Keith, Alexa and Reese proceeded carefully, keeping their pace relatively slow; Franz, however, had no problems – he hovered alongside Alexa and began to play with his purple and lavender flames, using his white Psychic energy to mould it into random shapes he could think of, including other Pokémon like Skitty and Taillow.
"Huh; this place looks...interesting... You ever come across this place in your home schooling?"
"Briefly; these ruins contain a prophecy that involves the birds of Fire, Ice and Lightning and Ho-Oh...which makes no sense."
"How so?"
"Ho-Oh isn't related to Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres; Lugia is." Keith raised an eyebrow.
"Why would Oblivia say otherwise?"
"I dunno, it's one of the more benign controversies in the scientific community; some are disputing the legitimacy of these ruins, in fact."
"What about Ian?"
"He's definitely Team Lugia, firmly believing that Ho-Oh is related to the legendary beasts Entei, Raikou and Suicune as per Ecruteak Lore," Alexa explained. "Personally, though, I'm not AS 'pro-Lugia' as my Grandpa, but I don't buy the whole 'Ho-Oh/legendary birds' relationship either."
"Is that because you were born and raised in Joh-WAAAAH!" Keith's foot suddenly slipped through a gap in the pathway; his leg fell into the water and he crashed onto the soggy stone underneath him.
"Keith! C'mon, I've got you!" Alexa immediately hurried to his aid and pulled his arm over her shoulder as she tried to hoist him up. However, her foot slipped as she fell backwards; Franz instantly turned his Psychic energy onto her, stopping her from falling at the petty cost of the Drifloon-shaped flame that he had in front of his face. With Alexa firmly in place, Keith managed to stand himself up, using Alexa as his support. With Keith firmly back on the path, Franz released Alexa from his telekinetic grip and watched the pair anxiously as they looked at one another with slight indifference. "You okay?"
"I've had worse." Keith tried to sound reassuring, but Alexa couldn't feel anything from his words.
"L-Let's just keep going before it happens again."
"You've read my mind, girl," Keith muttered quietly as the pair continued down the shattered pathway.
Keith, Alexa and their Pokémon finally arrived at the ruins at the end of the pathway, but it wasn't the feuding Swampert and Druddigon that made them turn pale with disgust; there was hardly any footing before them – there were square panels scattered across the water flooding the area, much like the pathway, with more moss on the stone flooring. Reese looked down into the water and saw that it was deep enough for Keith and Alexa to swim in and for them to submerge underwater if they wished, which annoyed Keith even further; there was little room for manoeuvre, though it appeared to him and Alexa that it was of no consequence to Swampert or Druddigon.
"...I get Swampert, you get Druddigon?" Keith asked quickly.
"Makes no difference to me," Alexa shrugged. "Let's just get this over with."
"Gladly," Keith agreed as he and Alexa scattered across the ruins, headed for their respective targets with their stylers at the ready.
"Capture ON!" they declared as they fired their trademark spinning tops from their stylers.
"Get ready, Reese!"
"Franz, let's go!"
"Pokémon Assist!" Keith and Alexa exclaimed in unison.
"Chandelure!" Franz fired a purple and lavender ball of fire from the top of his head; as it crashed into Alexa's capture disc and turning the blue and white energy trail into a burning red, orange and yellow trail, stray embers scattered across the area – the powered up capture disc caused flames to surround Druddigon with each lap it made around the rough skinned Dragon Pokémon, causing it to feel tired out for reasons it couldn't understand.
"Bui!" Reese, with his paw freezing over, punched Keith's capture disc, turning its energy trail into a cyan blue and white one that caused artificial snowball to form in front of it as Keith moved it in any direction he could; Keith then flicked this snowball at Swampert, causing the Mud Fish Pokémon to completely freeze over.
Keith and Alexa continued to circle their targets until white rings formed around them, shrunk and veiled them in their soothing light. The two Rangers sighed with relief.
"And that's capture complete," Keith said quietly as he recalled his capture disc. Alexa picked hers up off of the floor as she approached Druddigon and the Swampert Franz was in the process of thawing out; he made a Mudkip out of his fire and used his Psychic to make it run around the iceberg, melting it in the process. Reese was entertained by Franz's display, but Keith was confused and frustrated by Alexa's actions; he couldn't tell what she was doing, but he didn't want to waste any more time and leave as soon as possible. "What are you doing now?"
"Making sure nobody's hurt," Alexa replied, undeterred by his irritation. Keith waited in silence as Alexa carried out her check; neither Druddigon nor Swampert had any critical injuries aside from the occasional bruise she found on their bodies. "Okay, you're both fine. Just do everyone a favour and take your disputes outside next time."
"Swamp," Swampert nodded.
"Druuh," Druddigon agreed begrudgingly. Alexa stood up properly as the two Pokémon separated and ventured towards different parts of the ruins; Swampert dove into the water, while Druddigon made his way towards the doorway at the far end of the ruins.
"Huh; that didn't take long," Keith said bluntly as Alexa and Franz approached him.
"A simple 'yes, ma'am'; they're obviously men of few words," Alexa said as she returned her capture disc to its original position. "Let's go." Keith merely nodded as the pair finally made their way out of the ruins, like Keith wanted to do two minutes ago.
Almost as soon as Keith and Alexa made their way to the top of Silver Falls, heavy rain began to fall, drenching the two Rangers immediately. Reese rejoiced at the sudden change in weather, but Franz sought shelter underneath the waterfall. Alexa returned her frightened Chandelure to his Poké Ball just before she and Keith, both feeling overwhelmingly cranky and annoyed, walked down the river and back to where they started. Reese followed them, merrily dancing in the heavy rainfall.
Rhythmi, Linda and Marcus were all at their desks in the Operations room, monitoring activity in the Almia, Kalos and Sevii regions. Professor Hastings and Chairperson Erma stood in front of another teen Ranger with brunette hair that flicked at the back of his head, similar to a Swellow's tuft, blue-green eyes and a Chimchar standing happily next to his right leg.
"How was your mission, Kellyn?" Hastings asked keenly.
"It wasn't as drastic as we thought," Kellyn answered, his voice youthful and full of optimism. "Turned out the problem was a Galvantula nest was in the core of the power plant, which is why the whole of Kalos was without power."
"Thank Arceus it wasn't some miscreant attempting to steal the electricity," Hastings said gratefully.
"What became of the nest, dear?" Erma asked. Kellyn shrugged.
"I captured the Galvantula and the three dozen or so Joltik and transferred them to Santalune Forest; I thought it'd be best for them to live with other Bug Pokémon and Santalune Forest is the best place to find Bug Pokémon."
"Well, it sounds like a job well done to me, Kellyn; mission clear!" Hastings smiled.
"Thanks!"
"Chimchar!" Chimchar rejoiced.
"Now..." Hastings looked over his shoulder to look at Linda. "Linda, do we have an update on Kate's mission yet?"
"No contact as of yet, Professor," Linda replied. As he turned his head to look at Kellyn again, Hastings spotted a heavily drenched and disgruntled Keith and Alexa approaching him from the escalator; seeing their state alarmed the professor.
"We're back," Keith sighed.
"Whoa! What happened to you two?!" Kellyn asked out of concern. "Are you guys okay?"
"It was raining when we left the region," Keith explained quietly.
"It was like Kyogre's baby shower," Alexa groaned.
"But you ARE okay, right?" Kellyn asked again endearingly.
"I s'pose..." Keith glared at Alexa slightly. "All things considered..."
"That's a relief," Kellyn smiled.
"Change out of your uniforms before anything else," Hastings advised. "The last thing we want is for the pair of you to end up sick."
"Thanks, Professor," Alexa said appreciatively as she and Keith made their way back down the escalator. Linda's terminal began to ring, picking up an incoming transmission; Linda picked up the call.
"This is Kate; just to let you know, Professor, that all of the Sharpedo are now back in the ocean and are not cluttering the Grand Lake Hotel's swimming pool," said a very energetic and peppy young voice.
"That SUCKED!" Keith complained as he and Alexa made their way inside their Union bedroom. Alexa instantly raided the wardrobe for fresh towels; she picked out two white towels and tossed one over to Keith, who caught the flying rectangular fabric and slapped it over his spiky crimson hair. Alexa placed her towel on the top of her head and began to carefully rub her hair dry.
"But, hey, at least it's over now, right?" she said optimistically. Keith huffed, much to Reese's worry.
"At least it's mission CLEAR this time!" he argued in frustration. Alexa looked at him with concern.
"Keith-"
"Y'know, our last mission before this one? That Helioptile should NOT have died!" Alexa began to feel unbelievably tense.
"I-I know, but-"
"Y'know, if you didn't have your stupid Mawile with you that day, that Helioptile wouldn't have ended up as that Pyroar's dinner!" Keith yelled in anger as he slammed his soggy jacket onto the spare bed next to Alexa; she jumped as the wet piece of clothing sunk into the untouched white duvet clothes and watched for a brief moment as the rainwater the jacket absorbed seeped into the otherwise pristine bedclothes. Insulted, Alexa glared at Keith.
"Are you SERIOUSLY blaming Millie for what happened to Helioptile?!"
"It's either on HER head or YOURS for bringing her in the first place!" Keith shouted furiously.
"We were trying to make him feel safe!" Alexa retaliated defensively as she pulled her own jacket off of her; it was almost stuck to her that she felt like she was peeling it off of her. Keith huffed a small laugh as Alexa hung her jacket on the end of her bed, away from the bedclothes.
"Yeah, well, he's definitely safe now; you can't die TWICE!" Alexa slipped the towel off of her head and rubbed the rest of her hair with it; however, more tangles formed in her hair due to its length.
"Professor Hastings agreed that Helioptile's death was a tragic accident-"
"It WAS tragic, Alexa; it could have been avoided altogether!" Keith yelled abruptly. Alexa ceased her rubbing as she at Keith with discomfort.
"Keith, I-I tried my best to-"
"Your best?! Yeah, good job killing ANOTHER Pokémon, Hero!" Keith shouted with infuriated sarcasm. Alexa felt terribly mortified and heartbroken. "Y'know, it's like your best stopped being good enough after Operation Brighton; ever since then, you've been getting into trouble left, right and centre – like all you're good for is getting into trouble!" Keith saw Alexa shivering in place as she began to tear up, but it wasn't until the towel slipped out of Alexa's grasp and dropped onto the floor that he realised what just came out of his mouth...and it horrified him to the core and beyond. "Oh, God...! A-Alexa, I-"
Alexa gave Keith no chance to repent for his insensitive words of brutality; without a second thought for anything else, she fled the room, her sobbing having commenced. Keith chased Alexa out of the room, but nobody else saw Professor Hastings walking down the escalator; he watched as Alexa fled down the escalator on the opposite side of the floor in tears, and then spotted Keith watching her as she ran away.
"Alexa, wait!" he called desperately.
"Keith!" Keith yelped as he faced the now livid Professor.
"P-Professor Hastings!" Hastings glared at the panicking Ranger.
"I think I'd like to hear your full report now...INCLUDING the part where you drove your PARTNER away in TEARS!" he roared furiously. Keith looked away from Hastings shamefully as a very bemused Erma and Kellyn made their way down the escalator to investigate the cause of the commotion, Chimchar sitting comfortably on Kellyn's shoulder.
"Professor? What's going on?" Kellyn asked in confusion. Erma noticed how remorseful Keith looked and became concerned.
"I'm about to find out," Hastings said calmly. "Keith. The office. Now."
~ Fin