[edit: spacing issue fixed. idk what the fuck was going on. sorry]

Saturday, June 20

"Kellyn! Kellyn, wake up!"

I groaned and rolled over onto my back to see Lilly bouncing on the edge of my bed. "You don't want to be late for your first day as a Ranger!"

I chuckled. "All right, all right. Get out of my room so I can change."

"Okay!" Lilly stomped down the stairs. I'd laid out an outfit for today: a Nirvana shirt, jeans, and Converse. I changed quickly and hurried downstairs.

Dad stood at the stove. "Want some breakfast before you leave?"

I took a seat at the kitchen table. "Of course I do."

Dad set several pancakes in front of me. I inhaled them. "You're gonna bring my suitcases over, right?"

Dad nodded. "As soon as I water the crops."

"The crops?"

"Oh, I didn't tell you? We have a few plots nearby. Lilly named it Partner Farm. I don't remember why, though."

"It's because you and Mommy are such good partners!" Lilly chirped from behind her plate of pancakes.

I stood up and pushed my chair in. "I'd better leave. Thanks for breakfast!"

"Have fun!" Lilly called after me.

I shut the door behind me and headed for Chicole Path. Luana was waiting for me at the beginning of the path. "Hi, Kellyn!" she said. "I've come to escort you to the Base since you don't have a Styler. We're glad to have you on board."

I grinned. "I'm glad to be on board."

Luana nodded. "Great. Let's move."

We walked in what was mostly a straight line from Chicole Village to the Vientown Ranger Base. Inside, we found the Base's staff: Elaine organizing her toolbox, Barlow standing at attention, and Crawford slouched against the control desk, flirting with the Operator.

"Hey, Kellyn. Hey, Luana," Crawford said, turning away from the desk.

Luana smiled. "Hi, Crawford."

I wanted to greet Crawford myself, but the Operator waved me over, so I went to the desk. "Kellyn, this is your uniform. We'd like you to wear it all the time, unless you're sleeping. There are two sets in this package, both marked with your name. On any given day, you should be wearing one and washing the other in the laundry room. Speaking of... Hey, Crawford, can you give Kellyn a tour of the quarters?"

"Sure thing," Crawford said to the Operator's planet-sized tits. "Come on, Kellyn."

Next to a door at the back of the main room was a card scanner. The door to the back room slid open and I followed Crawford in.

"Welcome to the Ranger quarters," he said. We were in an open area shaped like a rectangle. I counted ten doors: three on each of the shorter sides and four on the longer side. None of them seemed to open with a card key. A rectangular table was in the middle and had eight stools surrounding it. A kitchenette was on the wall next to the door to the front room. "Your room is there," Crawford said, pointing to a door in the middle of the right wall. "On this left wall, we have two gender-specific bathrooms and a laundry room. Why don't you go change into your uniform in your room? You'll find an ID badge in that package that you can use to open this door. Come out when you're ready."

"Got it." I went into my room and closed the door. The small room was furnished with a wooden bed, a dresser with a mirror, and a desk. I tossed the package onto the bed and ripped it open. Inside I found two uniforms in plastic packages, a tool belt with a Styler clip, and, like Crawford had said, a green foiled ID badge with my school picture, my name and date of birth, the symbol of the Ranger Union, and a barcode that I assumed was used to open the door. I changed into one of the uniforms and left the other one in its package on the dresser, then clipped on the belt and left the room.

I headed straight for the door, but jumped when I heard a feminine yawn. I turned to see Kate wearing a Skitty onesie and leaving her room. "What's for breakfast?"

I glanced at my watch. "Kate, you know it's 11:00 AM?"

Her eyes widened. "Oh my Mew... I overslept!" She turned around and ran back into her room.

"You'd better get ready, Ash Ketchum!" I called after her. I opened the door with my badge and stepped out into the front room.

"Looking snappy, Kellyn," said a grinning Barlow. "You wear that uniform well. One more thing before you become a full-fledged Ranger, though: this." He looked to the Operator, who handed him something. "Kellyn, this is your very own Capture Styler."

"Sweet!" I accepted it and clipped it to my belt.

"I'm going to assign you a Mission right off the bat," Barlow said. "You and Crawford are going to deliver our local newspaper, the Vien Tribune. It'll give you a chance to meet the locals, as well as to show your folks how spiffy you look in that uniform."

The door to the quarters whooshed open and Kate scrambled out, rushing to get her hair into her Mew-awful pigtails. "I'm sorry!!" she said frantically. "I don't know what happened, I just-"

"Whoa, Kate," Crawford said. "Chill. It's fine. Why don't you go make yourself some toast or something?"

"Don't burn it," Elaine said. It was the first time I'd seen her look up from her tools all day.

Crawford started towards the exit and motioned for me to follow him. "Let's go, Kellyn."

On the way out, Crawford picked up a bag full of papers. He handed me a rolled-up copy of the Vien Tribune. "All right, so we have to deliver these to every household in Vientown and Chicole Village. Sound good?"

I shrugged. "Sure."

"Good. Our first stop is Little Tim's and Big Bertha's. This way." He walked over to the house with the attached barn and rapped on the door. "Special delivery!"

A girl a little older than Lilly answered the door. "Mama, Papa, the Rangers are here!" I counted seven other kids who crowded around the door. The biggest woman I'd ever seen turned to face us.

"Why, hello, Crawford," she said. "And who's this with you?"

"This is Kellyn," Crawford introduced. "New recruit."

"Well, it sure is lovely to meet you, Kellyn!" She glanced up a set of stairs. "Honey, the paper's here!"

No response.

The woman walked over to Crawford and I. "Please forgive my husband. He reckons you'll have Pokemon with you, and he's deathly a-scared of 'em."

Crawford flashed his signature grin. "Not a problem, Bertha. Kellyn, give Bertha that paper."

"Okay." I handed Bertha the rolled up paper I was holding.

"Thank you, sweetie," Bertha said.

Crawford held open the door for me. "Let's roll, Kellyn."

The next stop was right next door. The house belonged to a Webster Diaz, as Crawford said. Crawford knocked on the door. "Paper!"

The door opened within a few seconds. A man who appeared to be in his late twenties stood on the other side. "Hey, Crawford, he said. "Who's this with you?"

"Kellyn," Crawford explained. "New recruit."

"Wonderful to meet you, Kellyn." Webster shook my hand and accepted his copy of the Vien Tribune. "I make signs, you know? Every sign you see in Almia was made by yours truly."

"Cool." I wasn't interested.

The next house belonged to Mr. Woodward, who, as his name suggested, was a wood carver. "At this time of day," Crawford said, "Mr. Woodward is usually taking his morning walk on Nabiki Beach. We'll find him there." Crawford and I walked silently to Nabiki Beach. An old man stood on the beach, looking out at the ocean. "Mr. Woodward!" Crawford called.

The man turned around. "Ah, Crawford! Here with my paper?"

"You know it." Crawford tossed him the paper. He caught it with one hand.

"Who's the kid?" Mr. Woodward asked as we walked towards him.

"Kellyn," I said before Crawford could open his mouth. "New recruit."

He shook my hand. "On behalf of the residents of Vientown and Chicole Village, we're glad to have you on board. So, uh--"

Crawford interrupted him, holding up a finger. "Shh, do you hear that?"

Mr. Woodward stopped talking, and we listened carefully for the sound Crawford was talking about. I quickly identified it: a rustling in the bushes behind me. I turned around to face it--too late. Something alive and furry hit me in the face, knocking me backwards onto the sand. The thing jumped off of my face and began hopping around me, squeaking a very familiar squeak. It was the Pachirisu I'd caught on my one-day internship.

Crawford broke the silence by stating the obvious: "Hey, Kellyn, I think it's the Pachirisu you caught on your one-day internship."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," I said.

"It must have waited for you to become a Ranger so it could be your Partner Pokemon."

I scratched her head. "Can she?"

Crawford shrugged. "Absolutely! We can register it when we get back to the Base. Let's keep moving. We gotta show your parents your new uniform and Partner Pokemon."

I grinned and stood up. "Sounds good."

There were three other houses in Chicole Village; in one lived a young, engaged couple where the woman was obsessed with the Go-Rock Quads. I didn't understand. I remembered my dad telling me they were bad guys who wanted to take over Fiore. In another lived a very nice Skitty lady. She and Crawford had a long conversation about the weather while Pachirisu and Crawford's Budew played with her Skitty. In the third lived a single-child family where the kid liked Riolu a lot but had never actually seen one.

Our last stop of the day was my house. My parents loved my uniform, and Lilly thought Pachirisu was adorable (well, at least until it shocked her).

I gave all three of them hugs and we went back to the Base. Crawford stepped inside dramatically. "We have some news," he announced.

Kate perked up. "Are you getting married?"

I gagged. "Ugh! No!"

"What the hell, Kate?!" Crawford said.

She giggled. "Sorry."

Crawford glared at her. "So, if there will be no further interruptions, I'd like to announce that Kellyn has found himself a Partner Pokemon."

Luana applauded. "Nice job, Kellyn!"

The Operator waved me over. "Kellyn, I'll need you to fill out this form to register it, okay?"

"Sure." I took the form and a gel pen from the Operator's cup. The form asked for my name, my Ranger ID number, and some basic information about the Pachirisu. As soon as I finished filling it out, the Operator's phone rang.

She answered it. "Hello?" There was some unidentifiable chatter on the other end, then the Operator said, "Yes, he's right here." She held the phone out to me. "It's for you."

I took the phone. "Hello?"

"Hey, dude." It was Hunter.

"Oh, hey," I said. "What's up?"

"Not too much. Hey, I heard you graduated. Congrats."

"Thanks. Anything new back home?"

"Yeah, actually. They started building that wall I was telling you about. It's gonna be six feet tall."

"Better than fifty feet and electrified, barbed wire on top."

"Point taken, but it still kind of sucks."

"I hear you."

"Oh, by the way, Ben and Hannah broke up."

"Cool." I now realized that my feelings for Hannah had somehow dissipated in the months I'd been gone. "Might I ask what happened?"

"Might I ask if you're sure you want to know?"

The question swayed me, but not enough to convince me otherwise. "I'm pretty sure."

"They had sex."

I nearly dropped the phone. "They what."

"They screwed, they performed the horizontal mambo, they did the deet-ness--"

"No, I know what you mean, just-- seriously?"

"Believe me, I told them it was a bad idea--" I heard a static crackle and someone saying, "Just give me the damn phone already!" A couple of seconds later, the phone was under new management: Ben was now on the other end. "Hey, Kellyn, I just wanted to--"

I cut him off. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just hang up on your ass."

"Because I'm sorry, okay? I realize dating someone I knew you liked was a shitty idea, but I didn't truly get it until the sex was over and it just felt completely wrong. I feel like complete shit, okay? That's why you should listen to me."

I took a deep breath. "Okay, Ben, I forgive you. But if you ever pull shit like this again, our friendship is over."

"That's fair," he said. "I understand."

He put Hunter back on. "Little twerp made me call you so he could apologize," Hunter said.

"Ha."

"So what else is--" Someone outside screamed.

Barlow jumped to attention. "EVERYONE OUTSIDE!"

"Hey dude I'll call you back it's an emergency!" I slammed the phone onto the Operator's desk and rushed outside. Pachirisu following.

The situation outside was interesting: a girl in a Ranger School uniform rode atop a Ponyta, chanting battle cries, and a terrified old woman cowered behind Barlow.

Crawford stared incredulously. "Um, what exactly the fuck?"

Suddenly, the Ponyta enveloped itself in flame. It started bucking until the girl was thrown off. She hit the ground, screaming in pain. The Ponyta continued to gallop around excitedly, singeing the ground under it.

Barlow immediately started barking orders. "Crawford, capture the Ponyta! Luana, escort that woman to safety! Kellyn, bring the girl inside, get her to a bed, and administer first aid!"

I ran to the girl, picked her up bridal style, and ran towards the Base. Once inside, I scanned my card to open the door to the quarters and went into my room. I placed the girl on the bed.

The Operator was right behind me with the Base's massive first-aid kit. "Here," she said."

"Thanks." I placed it on the ground and opened it, surveying its contents to ensure everything I'd learned about in the mandatory first aid certification class I took at the Ranger School was in there; all of it and more was in the kit.

I turned to the girl. "Are you conscious?"

She winced. "I think so."

"Okay. Where does it hurt?"

"Everywhere," she groaned.

I nodded and started peeling her burnt clothes off. I cursed Barlow for giving me this job and not Luana; I had never seen a naked girl until then.

She was covered in second-degree burns. "I'm gonna dress your burns first, okay?" I said. She didn't respond; I took that as consent. I cleaned the burns with alcohol wipes, sprayed burn spray on them, and wrapped them in gauze. The arm she'd landed on was swollen. I felt it and confirmed that her forearm was broken. "It's broken," I told her.

"Fuck," she muttered.

"I think our Mechanic has an x-ray machine," I said. "I'll go ask her." She didn't respond. I ran out into the main room, where Elaine was playing some handheld video game. "Hey, Elaine?"

She looked up. "Yeah?"

"You have an x-ray machine, right?"

"I do." She went into the Mechanic's closet and brought a cart with some machine on it. "Is she in your room?"

"Yep," I confirmed. "It's her left forearm."

She wheeled the machine into my room. "Hi," she said to the girl. "I'm Elaine. I'm going to make sure your arm isn't broken, and I'll set it if it is." She started up the machine. "Kellyn, can you get a splint ready?"

"Sure." I dug a fabric-and-Velcro splint out of the first-aid kit and loosened the straps.

"Definitely looks broken," Elaine said. "I'm going to set it before it gets infected, okay?" The girl whimpered as Elaine carefully set the bone. I handed her the splint, and she slid it over the girl's arm.

She turned to me and smiled. "I'll go steal some clothes from Kate. I think she's out on patrol." She wheeled the machine out of the room, leaving me alone with the girl.

I knelt next to the bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Like shit," she said.

"I can imagine."

She smiled weakly. "Bet you've never seen a girl naked."

I chuckled. "You would win that bet. Hey, what's your name?"

"Summer."

"Hi, Summer. I'm Kellyn."

"And I'm Elaine," came a voice from behind me. "And the lady who is graciously lending you these clothes--" she threw some clean pajamas at Summer "--is Kate. Be sure to thank her."

Summer didn't move. "Sure thing."

"Need some help?" I asked.

"Probably."

Elaine walked towards the bed and gently pushed me aside. "I'll help. I think Kellyn here has seen enough."

I sniggered. "All right, all right. I'll leave."

Kicked out of my own bedroom, I went into one of the cupboards and found an Easy Mac cup. I scanned the directions, grabbed a plastic fork, and set to work making it.

The door slid open, and Kate entered the quarters. "Hey, Kellyn, I was on patrol. Did something happen?"

I started laughing hysterically, nearly falling off my chair. Kate looked at me incredulously. "Did something happen! Kate, you missed so much. So much."

Her eyes became round in what I took to be her signature facial expression. "Really?"

I caught myself and sighed deeply. "Kate. Some girl rode into town on a Ponyta and got thrown off and badly burned. Where did you even go on your patrol?"

"Breeze Hill."

"You didn't hear any screaming?"

She paused, then shook her head. "Nope."

"What, are you deaf? That screaming could have woken the dead!"

Kate ignored this. "Is the girl all right?"

I heard the microwave ding and went to take my Easy Mac out. "She's lying on a bed wrapped in bandages with a broken arm, if you'd consider that all right. Would you believe it, Barlow assigned me to first aid, so I had to take her clothes off!"

Kate pursed her lips. "That... must have been awkward."

"Haha, yeah." I sat down at the table and stuck my fork into the completed Easy Mac.

* * *

I went on patrol this afternoon. In the process, I calmed down Tim and Bertha's raging Miltank and rescued a drowning Skitty.

The sun started to set, and it became clear that Summer wasn't going to leave my bed in time for me to sleep in it. The Operator brought in a sleeping bag, inflatable pad, and pillow for me. I set it up on the ground next to the bed.

I grabbed some clean pajamas from the drawer and was about to start changing when I realized Summer was staring at me. I sweatdropped. "Are you going to watch me change?"

She smiled and nodded. "You've seen me naked. I wanna see you naked."

"Fine, but I'm not taking off my underwear."

"No, you gotta take off your underwear."

"I am not taking off my underwear!"

I took off my uniform and pulled on a T-shirt over my boxers, then wriggled into the sleeping bag, covering every part of my body except my head.

"Dude," Summer said. "That is not fair."

I rolled my eyes. "Come on, it's not my fault Barlow assigned a guy to first aid."

She swung her upper body off of the bed and placed her head inches from mine. "You've seen a girl naked. Have you ever kissed one?"

"Um. No?" I avoided her eyes.

She leaned forward and pecked me on the lips, then winked and hoisted herself back onto the bed with her good arm and turned to face away from me.

Uh......... I rolled over onto my back. It took me about an hour to fall asleep.