Pokemon Ranger: Kate of Almia.

Was It Fate?

So, before we get to the story, I wanted to say THANK YOU for all of the support I've been getting! It really makes me smile and makes it worth updating to know that people are reading it. I will still continue to update Pokemon Ranger: The Hero of Oblivia, however, I might be a little spaced between updates because I'm a Sophmore (UPDATE: Now I'm a JUNIOR!! (UPDATE OF THE UPDATE: I'm a Senior!)) in High School and I need to focus on school.

Actually, that's not even my excuse. My excuse is that I can never run on a schedule and I've come down with a deadly disease called Procrastination. (Update: Procrastination has been slowly killing me for years. Please send help.)

But, no more dilly-dallying! You came here to read about Kate Hitomi, not me. So... ON WITH THE STORY!!

One question rang in my ears as I approached the large metal gates of the Ranger School; 'Is it too late to turn back now?' Yes, yes it was. I was already in Almia and Solana was long gone. My cousin hopped on her friend's Fearow and dropped me off. She only stayed long enough to tell me that she would bring my belongings by later.

I was so nervous. Today my destiny would be decided. My palms were sweating and I pulled on my ponytails, which was a nervous habit of mine. If I failed, I would have nowhere to go and no place to stay... I'd be too ashamed to ask Solana for a ride back to Fiore if I screwed this up.

I could always beg to stay at the school in exchange for cheap labor and try to pick up lessons in between scrubbing individual tiles with a toothbrush if it came down to that.

I'm not a quitter, I reminded myself. I'm just extremely anxious, hence why I'm saying stuff that I don't really mean.

Today was the day that I was taking the entrance exam to get into my dream school. If I didn't get in, I'd go back to Fiore as a failure! Solana would be so disgusted with me, she'd never acknowledge me as her cousin. And Lunick would back her up one hundred percent.

Well, even so, I wasn't ever going to give up. Why was I freaking myself out? Because the entirety of your ambitions, goals, and dreams rests on this test. Oh, yeah. There was that.

I looked down at the crumpled sheet of white paper and re-read it for the hundredth time. The directions on the sheet of paper were relatively simple: Go into the smaller building that was a little to the left of the school and wait until somebody called me inside for my exam.

My dreams would shatter if I messed this up. In Ranger School, it didn't matter how much knowledge you possessed about the Stylers and forming a bond between Rangers and Pokemon; if you couldn't execute the process of Capturing, the School's time would be wasted and your efforts would be futile.

Gathering up my nerve, I walked up to the shack and knocked. No response. My hope plummeted and my doubt skyrocketed. Then the door was thrown open and I was all but dragged into a pitch black room with nothing more than a sole spotlight to light up the room.

I felt trapped by the darkness and hugged myself tightly. I was very much afraid of the dark and I was surrounded on all sides. I looked down at my feet, where a Student Styler sat. I picked it up. Another spotlight suddenly appeared, where a Pikachu was pacing around. Looking down at the Styler, I realized what my task was.

Having no knowledge of how to use a Styler, I thought back to when I was reading about the Styler. I pressed a button and the Capture Disc shot out. I yelped in surprise. Smiling, I attached the Styler to my wrist and circled the Capture Disc around the Pikachu.

A loud voice boomed from all around me. "Nice job! It took you an impressive three seconds to figure out how to use the Styler and capture the Pikachu. You're a natural!" Then the lights turned on all around me, soothing some of my anxiety. "And with someone with a Capture score as impressive as yours, we will rule the world!" Then the voice gave an evil cackle and a man dressed in a blue uniform stepped out of a sound booth. "Welcome to the formidable Team School."

"Mr. Kaplan!" A voice said from the entrance to the shack. "I would prefer that you didn't fill my student's head with this foolish talk of taking over the world!"

The man bristled at the tone and I turned to see a pretty lady with green eyes and auburn hair.

"Hehe... Sorry, April." He sheepishly said. He turned back to me. "Your test scores were seriously amazing, though. You beat our record time by a full second!"

The woman's eyes widened. "You don't say?"

I turned to her. "So, did I...?"

The lady flashed me a wide smile. "I'm Ms. April, and I'll be your teacher."