Pokemon Ranger: The Hero of Oblivia

Finding Ben!

The Daybreak Ruins was really a big, ancient temple. Blue Eyes stopped me before we went in. "Wait. Don't Rangers have a pose when they start a mission? Red Eyes and I thought that was really cool, so we made up our own." She gave me an eager look. "Please! Could you do your pose for me?"

So even Blue Eyes and Red Eyes once had some appreciation for Rangers before this, huh? I see no problem of giving her this one thing.

I nodded. Then I twirled into my Ranger Pose.

"I'd hate to admit it, but that was actually a pretty cool pose. And you responded to your enemy's request, too." She said, almost in wonder.

Soon, we started to get ambushed by Pokemon Pinchers that were trying to liberate their leader. Everytime they attacked me, I won. And everytime they attacked me, Blue Eyes got frustrated with her team's incompetence. Finally, we made it to the end of the Ruins. But... No one was there.

Blue Eyes noticed this, too, and her face got red with anger and embarrassment. "Red Eyes isn't even here!"

I noticed a stone at the end of the room. It looked exactly like the one in Rasp Cavern. Does that mean that there's a-

My thoughts were cut off by a roar. I turned to come face-to-face with Entei. He looked pretty mad. Blue Eyes started ranting off about how Entei was an inconvenience but never did anything about it. Finally, I just took off my Styler and layed it gently on the ground, like I had done with Raikou.

Just like Raikou, he gave me a quizical look. I sat down very slowly, making sure not to sit down too fast or too slow.

"What are you doing?" Blue Eyes squeaked.

I sent her a glare. "Sit down and be quiet!"

She did so without hesitation. Entei looked me over, walking over to me with a hostile look. I layed myself across the ground, not caring for the dirt that was in my hair or on my clothes. Entei circled around me curiously.

I closed my eyes and softly started to whisper-sing. "I am just a Pokemon,
You can watch me fly.
Though I am just a Pokemon,
My love for you can fill the sky.

At the appointed hour,
Remember love has power.
You needn't fear,
Should you shed a tear.
Rise when others cower." At the end of the song, I cracked one of my eyes open.

Entei was giving me a slightly startled look. Confident that Entei was no longer hell-bent determined to roast me, I opened both of my eyes fully. For a while, it was just me and Entei, looking into each other's eyes. His eyes were full of recognition and I felt a connection, like there was some distant memory that involved Entei.

"Permission to stand up?" I asked him softly.

Entei gave me a curt nod. I stood up slowly. Entei gave me a bow. I was extremely confused.

I took that as my oppertunity to brush the soft brown curls on his head.

"Welcome back, my Lady." A deep voice said. Great, the voices are back.

A white light engulfed me, just as it had on the Wireless Tower and a new symbol appeared in the sky. Somehow, the symbol was already etched into my memory, as if I had seen it many times before.

Entei gave me an approving nod before running off. I quickly reattached my Styler and purposely avoided Blue Eyes' pointed stares.

She cleared her throat and brushed the dirt off of her white miniski. "Thanks..."

I whipped my head to face her before she seemed to realize what she said.

"That's what I'd like to say. But I feel like you deprived me of a chance to show my stuff." She finished, although it sounded like Blue Eyes herself didn't believe those words.

Then a bunch of Z.Z. Flyers surrounded us. The one that was front in center was none other than Red Eyes. He clapped. "I'm impressed, Ranger." He stepped off of his Z.Z. Flyer and helped someone else off of the back end of the flyer. I caught a glimpse of the person.

"Ben!" I yelled to him.

Ben cringed at my voice and looked up, as if trying to confirm that it was really me.

"You got Entei to leave. That works out very well for us." Red Eyes said smugly. "I give you my thanks." He turned and pointed at the grunt to his left. "Go and get the Emblem."

The grunt nodded and went over to the Monument. I advanced towards the grunt, angry that they had lured us here for me to calm Entei so that they could steal another Emblem.

Red Eyes jerked Ben by the ropes on his wrists, making Ben lurch backwards. "Now now, little girl, you wouldn't want to do anything that would call off the trade, now, would you?"

I growled at him and stepped back, glaring at him. He was being a complete asshole because he thought that he had the upperhand. The said asshole had the nerve to call me 'little girl'. If Ben's safety wasn't on the line, I'd sic Jet and Yuka on him. Even Ben flinched when he called me that wretched name.

"Well, now, the girl has some sense!" He looks down at Ben. "Unlike her stupid partner that doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut. You sure are a liability, aren't you, Ranger?" Red Eyes mockingly told Ben. Ben said nothing and looked down, as if ashamed. Ben couldn't actually believe this arrogant son of a Growlithe, could he? "Let's do the hostage exchange that we've been waiting for. On my signal, we release both hostages at the same time. No funny business."

"You don't have to tell Summer that. She's an honest girl." Ben grumbled.

Red Eyes didn't acknowledge that Ben had spoken. "Three... Two... One... Go!" He counted down. On the word 'go', he pushed Ben onto the ground in front of me, while I allowed Blue Eyes to walk freely over to Red Eyes.

"Asshole..." Ben muttered under his breath.

I helped Ben up as well as I could. "Sorry to be so much trouble..." He softly mumbled. "I'll find a way to repay you for this."

Blue Eyes kicked up some dirt before gathering up enough courage to look her red-clad accomplice in the eyes. "Red... I caused a lot of trouble, didn't I? I-I'm sorry..."

"Don't worry about it, Blue. It wasn't a big deal." Then he turned to us. "Well now... The swap went as planned."

The grunt came back with a chunk of the monument with a glowing symbol on it. "We've got the Emblem."

Red Eyes gave them a nod. "Alright. Now that our plan's complete, it's time to leave." He hopped on his Z.Z. Flyer and helped Blue Eyes onto it. "Sorry that we didn't bring your Flyer, Blue." He turned to me and Ben. "Bye, Rangers! Here's a little something to remember us by until we meet again!"

The red leader motioned to his grunts and they used their gauntlets to force Voltorbs to explode around us, causing a dust cloud to surround us. Once the dust cleared, I untied Ben. He rubbed his wrists that were red with rope burn before looking up at me with a sad, pained expression.

"I am so sorry for everything that you had to do alone because I was stupid and reckless." He muttered before walking closer to me. He enveloped me in a tight hug. "They told me that you had died, Summer. You had died because of me." His voice was a hoarse whisper. "I would've never forgiven myself if something happened to you."

I hugged him back. "There's nothing to be sorry for. You would've done the same thing for me." I reminded him. "You're here now and that's all that matters." I felt Ben sigh in relief. "Oh, and there's something I forgot to say."

Ben pulled back from the hug, giving me a puzzled glance.

"Hi."

Ben cracked a smile, one of those smiles that I had missed so much. And, despite all we had been through only moments ago, he started laughing. His laughter was infectious and I found myself laughing with him. "Hey, Little Bit."

I gently punched his shoulder. "Stop calling me that."

"I will when you grow about two feet." He teased.

"I missed you, you jerk."

"I missed you, too, Munchkin."