With this chapter, we bring this arc, and all the struggles involved along with it, to a close! Where will Sango go from here?
As for the Best Girl nominations, still going strong. Anyone else left to add?
Currently Nominated: Sango, Cynthia, Elaina, Kate, Dakota, Ayame, Marion
Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Well, Guinevere is intentionally hard to get a bead on. As you can see, she's not the most… normal of people. Not that that's a bad thing, of course.
JoshGamerV: Yup! Unfortunately, she managed to get to Galar without anyone finding her.
HawkAussie: Yeah, thanks for reading! I'm trying to expand things beyond just pokemon battles, as you probably can tell by now with the focus I've put on Pokemon Rangers.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 183
With the loss of all their Wooloo, West Farm was a somber place. Thanks to treatment from the pokemon center, the shepherd dog Rex had recovered, and Farmer West's wounds were mending nicely as well. But the truly deep wounds that had been inflicted on the already-scarred family had yet to even begin to recover.
"Lucy… ya gotta eat somethin'," Farmer West gently coaxed his granddaughter, pushing the bowl of stew in front of her a little closer to her. The poor girl hadn't eaten anything since Team Rocket had come and taken away all their precious pokemon. As Farmer West stared across the table at the frail thing, he felt anger and sadness welling up inside of him. Lucy looked forward with empty eyes.
"Sorry… grandpa… I'm not that hungry…" Lucy murmured. Her voice was distant and hollow, as lifeless as her eyes. It was as though everything that had made her Lucy had been completely drained away. Team Rocket hadn't just stolen their farm's precious pokemon. They had stolen away the light in his granddaughter's heart. And that thought was so heartbreaking to the old farmer, he wondered how the two of them would even be able to go on.
Lucy's mother was already sick, and he wasn't getting any younger. If she stayed like this… what sort of future would there be for the broken girl?
She bottled up 'er pain an' grief from losin' 'er father an' bein' 'way from 'er mother fer so long… an' now at's come out… it seems like there's 'most nothin' left o' 'er. The old man felt like crying just as the poor girl had. But he couldn't. He had to keep strong, for poor Lucy's sake. He had to stay by her side, and hope that someday… someday she'd be able to smile again. He knew better than to promise her any sort of false hope. Those pokemon rangers had made it clear that they wouldn't be able to bring their Wooloo back home. And unfortunately… that was maybe the only thing he could think of that would raise the girl's spirits.
Ah probly won' see Lucy's smile again in mah lifetime… He sadly regretted. Hopef'ly tho… maybe someday…
A knock on the door shook the old farmer from his grief.
"Who could that be at this hour?" He grumbled, rising up out of his seat and walking toward the door. His shotgun lay unused on the counter. There was nothing left here to protect, anyhow.
The old man turned the door handle as best as he could with his worn hands, the door slowly swinging open. His eyes widened as he saw who was standing on the other side. It was the two young rangers from the other day, and that floating grey pokemon they had with them. The two of them were both wearing big smiles, and the blonde lass, Sango, had tears in her eyes.
And behind them…
Farmer West, felt his own face begin to moisten. He raised a trembling hand to his lips to catch the cough about to slip from his mouth. How… he couldn't believe it. How could this be?
"Lucy…" he croaked, barely above a whisper. "Lucy!"
He shouted again.
"Lucy! Come 'ere, girl! Ya gotta see this!"
Rex's ears perked up at the sound of his master's voice, and he rose up off the floor and ran to the door. He stopped at Farmer West's feet and his eyes widened.
"Yamp! Yamp!" Rex barked with joy, running down the steps and past the two rangers.
"Is Lucy here?" Sango asked.
"Lucy!" Farmer West called one more time, unable to keep the joy out of his voice.
Lucy rose from her seat and numbly walked toward the door. What could her grandfather want her to see now? It wasn't like…
It wasn't like…
"What…" Lucy stared at a sight that was simply beyond belief. How? Is it… could this be real?
Standing in front of her on the porch were Sango and another ranger, a tanned girl with curly soft green hair and a big beaming smile. Sango's Castform, Silver, floated in the air between their heads. But behind them… no… it couldn't be… could she… could she really hope that such a thing was true?
"Sorry…" Sango said, wiping her eyes. "I wanted to come yesterday… but there was a lot of paperwork to deal with… and since you guys don't have a phone, well… we wanted to come here ourselves. Sorry… sorry we're a little late."
Behind the two rangers, packed together on the dirt path that led up to their farmhouse, were the Wooloo that had been by her side since she was a baby. They were worn and weary, but they were here, with those big, dumb smiles on their faces. Not just some. Not just most. But every single last one of her beloved pokemon were standing in the field in front of her. Lucy brought her hands to her face, tears streaming from her eyes. She had thought that she would never see them again… but here they were. The Pokemon Ranger had brought all of them back to her, down to the last Wooloo she had.
Lucy fell to her knees in shock. She would have thought such a sight would have filled her with energy, and sent her leaping into the crowd of Wooloo, but now all she felt was tired. Without her sadness to weigh her down anymore, she had no strength left. A big rumble echoed out of her stomach.
Lucy began to tremble, looking up at Sango. Sango could see the joy in her eyes, and a wave of relief washed over her body.
"Thank you, Ranger…" Lucy cried. "Thank you… thank you so much…"
"…Of course," Sango said, smiling, kneeling down and patting Lucy on the head. "Let's help you up. Don't you want to go play with everyone again?"
"Mmhmm…" Lucy sobbed, nodding. She wiped her eyes as Sango raised her to her feet. "Um, but…"
Lucy's stomach rumbled again.
"Can… can I eat breakfast first?"
Farmer West laughed loudly, the first laugh he'd let out in days.
"Let's get ya inside, rangers, y'all're welcome ta join us if ya want! We ain't got much, but feel free ta eat yer fill!"
"Careful with those promises," Marion laughed, elbowing Sango in the side. "This one'll eat you out of house and home if you don't watch out!"
"Marion!" Sango gasped, her cheeks turning pink.
"Rex!" Farmer West called, walking through the grass to the side gate leading out back. She swung it open and beckoned for the Yamper to come. "Lead 'em all back home, ya hear? Poor things must be starvin'!"
"Yamp!" Rex barked, wagging his tail. He began herding the Wooloo back into their range, so they could fill up on the grass they'd been missing out on. Farmer West stepped back onto the porch, leading the girls inside to get some breakfast.
Marion and Farmer West remained seated at the table, staring out the window into the fields in the back of the farm. Sango, Lucy, and Silver had gone out into the backyard to play with the Wooloo again, and the bright, shining smiles on their faces warmed Marion's heart.
"So yer name's Marion, eh?" Farmer West said, Marion turning back to him and smiling.
"Yup! That's me!" Marion grinned. "Marion Rivers, fishing queen extraordinaire!"
"Ah… ah wanted ta thank ya," Farmer West said, lowering his head. "Ya rangers… ya brought back our Wooloo, an' more'n that, ya brought the smile back ta ma Lucy's face…"
"No, please, don't thank me for something like that," Marion said, shaking her head. "In fact… me… the other rangers… we didn't do a whole lot of anything. Honestly… they were willing to do just as Petal said, and leave your Wooloo aside. But Sango… she's the one who wouldn't stand for it. So she went and fought against Team Rocket, all by herself. Just because… just because she wanted to make Lucy smile again. Compared to her… all I really did was come pick her up, that's all. So any thanks you might have… give them to her. I don't have any need for them."
Farmer West nodded.
"That ranger… she's somethin' special, ain't she?"
Marion's smile widened, her eyes shining with joy.
"You bet your bacon she is! That girl's the absolute tops of the tops in my book!" Marion boasted over her friend, nodding. "She… she really is something special."
Marion turned to look out the window, smiling in admiration at Sango.
"I'm older than her… and even I admire her quite a bit. She… at her core, she's a caring person. Even more than me. She wants to be a ranger… to bring smiles to the faces of people and pokemon all over the place."
Marion turned back to look at Farmer West, her face serious.
"Don't… don't tell your granddaughter this, okay? I'm going to tell you… because I want you to know just what Sango had to give up to bring your Wooloo back home. But that girl… she might just blame herself if she heard."
Marion took a deep breath, and sighed.
"Sango's practicum is being cut short," Marion said. "She's being discharged and sent back home a few days early. Furthermore… as a Probationary Ranger, she's received an official citation for her actions, because she directly disobeyed the orders of her supervising ranger and went AWOL. There's some other stuff, too, but it's not important. The important thing is… what you need to know… with a record like that, it's unlikely that Sango will be able to continue much further as a Pokemon Ranger. Her supervisor, Petal, is willing to put in a good word for her, but even so… with a strike like that against her, with how she compromised an official ranger mission with her actions… I don't think things will look very good for her future. She's lucky they didn't revoke her Probationary License. I suppose that means there's still hope, but…"
"Ah see…" Farmer West looked down, his weathered face darkened with remorse for the ranger who had saved his daughter's smile.
"The reason I'm telling you this is because I want you to know just what kind of person she is," Marion said, looking deeply into the man's eyes. Farmer West saw the intensity behind those deep, sea-blue eyes, and felt a ping in his heart. "That girl, Lucy, that smile of hers… Sango paid a heavy cost for that smile. And she almost paid a far, far heavier one. But please… don't blame yourself. I don't want you to feel bad about things. Sango wouldn't want that. All she wants is for you and Lucy to be happy. Because she's the kind of girl… who can't ignore a girl crying."
Marion smiled a nostalgic smile, remembering the feeling of a warm, comforting hand on her head.
"The best people, the people that you know are good… really, purely kind… they could never turn their back on a child's tears."
Marion wanted to see Sango's smiling face again, so she turned to look out the window once more. But Sango's back was to the house. Still, with the way she was running through the grass, the liveliness with which she waved her arms… Marion could close her eyes and see the smile on her face, clear as day.
"I really love that girl, you know," Marion giggled. "She's quite the special one. Even more special than me. And I'll have you know, I'm quite special myself."
"Oh."
"But don't get me wrong! Sango's the tops, but I still only love her just barely more than seafood!" Marion clarified. "She's right up there behind fishing and the ocean in terms of my absolute favorites! Because she and I are the perfect match!"
"Oh! So the two'a ya're like-"
"No, no, no," Marion huffed. "Sango's like… Mmm, just dreamy! Like a deep, wide, blue ocean… The ocean contains more pokemon than anywhere else, did you know? Pokemon of all different sizes and shapes, and they all live together in harmony… because the ocean accepts them all for who they are. And Sango's the same way. I feel like no matter who I am… she'd accept me with a big smile. That's why she can get along so well with Lucy there. Even though their ages are different, Sango will still accept her as a friend nevertheless."
Marion smiled warmly, standing up from her seat.
"Of all my human friends… the ones I've made since I came to the Pokemon Academy… she's the one who's just the most…" Marion sighed, smiling, slapping her straw hat onto her head and setting her fishing pole down against the wall. "Well, might as well join them, yeah?"
Marion smiled a big beaming smile to the old farmer, turned, and headed outside to go play with the other girls.
Sango greeted Marion with a smile, gesturing Lucy over to meet her friend. It was still the morning, but they had a long day ahead of them. As a result of what she had done, breaking the rules in order to go rescue the Wooloo from Team Rocket, she had been officially relieved of her duties as a Pokemon Ranger under Petal Green. It was only by the grace of Ryoko's intervention that she hadn't had her license pulled, and possibly even resulted in criminal charges for her actions. All she had as her punishment was to leave. Her bags were already packed, and she'd already said her goodbyes to Haley and Scott. Tonight, she, Silver, and Marion would be heading out from Hulbury, bound for the Pokemon Academy. But even though she had to leave tonight… that would be hours from now. So until then…
She, Silver, and Marion could play with Lucy for the entire day. There was nothing more that she wanted. She had come out of the events on that ship with a new view of the world. Her future career as a ranger was probably damaged… but that didn't mean she would give up. She had flown too close to the sun, before she was ready. And now she had fallen back down to earth. But she didn't feel sad. If anything, she felt reborn. Ready to go forward into her future with a smile on her face. She wasn't going to let things end here. She WOULD become a Pokemon Ranger. The kind of ranger that her mother would be proud of, the kind that her father would accept.
The kind of ranger that would be able to bring a smile to the faces of more people like Lucy and Farmer West, more pokemon like Rex and all their Wooloo. There was a long road ahead of her, and now she could see it far more clearly than she ever had before.
And as long as that road was, walking it was still just a matter of putting one foot in front of the other.
"Ah hav'ta thank the both a ya… so much…" Farmer West said, staring at Sango and Marion as they stood on the porch. The sun was low in the sky, it was the late afternoon. Sango and Marion had a train to catch, the last train to Hulbury. So as much as they would have liked to stay, they had to leave. It was time to say their goodbyes.
"At… at least stay for dinner?" Lucy begged, staring hopefully up at the two pokemon rangers.
"She's right, ya can't go on an empty stomach, let us make somethin' fer ya-"
"No, honestly, you've done more than enough," Sango said, shaking her head. "Besides, there will be food on the boat."
"And if not, no need to worry! I can fish us up all the tasty snacks we need!" Marion agreed, nodding her head vigorously. She held her fishing pole triumphantly in her hands.
"Do… do you really have to go?" Lucy asked, tears welling up in her eyes. She hugged Rex closer to her chest.
"Yeah, sorry, Lucy," Sango said, patting the girl on her fiery red hair. "We do."
"Are… are you coming back?" Lucy asked hopefully. "You… you can come back, right? And play with us? Please?"
Sango winced, glancing at Silver. His expression was just as hopeful as the girl's, and they both reflected the yearning in her own breast.
"I hope so," Sango said, nodding. "Maybe someday. I'll come back as soon as I can."
"You promise?" Lucy asked, her voice turning hopeful.
"Pinky promise," Sango smiled, kneeling down and holding her hand out, sticking her pinky finger toward the girl. Lucy linked her small finger with Sango's, and the two shook on it.
"There, see? Now if I don't come back and play, I'll get a needle stuck in my eye," Sango said, rising back up.
"Are ya sure ya there ain't somethin' more we can do fer ya?" Farmer West asked, the guilt on his face clear to Sango. "Ya've done so much fer us…"
"No, no, it's fine, really," Sango said, shaking her head. "Don't worry."
She and Marion turned and walked down the path, Silver following after them.
Farmer West winced at the sight of their backs. He couldn't… he couldn't just let them leave like this, could he?
"Please! Just… is there anythin'?! Anythin' at all, an' we-"
Sango turned and glanced back at him, a big, beaming smile shining brightly on her face.
"I already told you, it's fine!" Sango laughed. "Just seeing your smiles is more than enough!"
And with that smile seared into their eyes, Sango turned from the farmer and his granddaughter and caught up to Marion, leaving the farm behind her.
Farmer West smiled after the two women as they walked into the distance.
"Grandpa…" Lucy said quietly, staring up at her grandfather with tearful eyes. "I… I was wondering…"
"Hm?"
"I… I want to be like her… do you think I… could do nice things for people, and make them smile too, just like Sango?" Lucy asked. "I… I want to be a Pokemon Ranger like her… I mean, I like working on the farm, I love it! But… I want to help people like her… she… she's so sweet and kind, I just…"
"Hm…" Farmer West stroked his greyed beard contemplatively. "Well, maybe ya can, lassie… tho, guess it means ah gotta stick around a heckuva lot longer an' keep this place goin', if that's what ya wanna do! Ha!"
Farmer West held his sides and let out a deep laugh from his belly, Lucy giggling along with him. She looked at the retreating figures of Sango and Marion on the horizon, and wondered what it would be like to help people like they had helped her.
So with this, Sango's practicum arc has come to a close! I intended this to be a lot shorter, but due to various events and scenes taking longer than I imagined, it ended up going for way more chapters than I expected. But we'll be returning to Pokemon Academy with the next chapter, don't you worry!