Chương 6: Chapter 5

Monday morning. I was dressed– well, not that differently from usual, actually. I'd thought about wearing something formal, but it struck me that an interview for the Ranger Service might involve more physical activity than what I imagined as normal for a job interview, so practical choices it was. A tank top and shorts would set me up for dealing with the summer heat, and a light flannel with rolled-up sleeves meant I'd have something to cover my arms if we ended up going into the wilderness.

I'd learned the necessity on recent expeditions with my partners and paid for my lessons in scratches and insect bites. A robust pair of hiking boots rounded out the ensemble, purchased with Wiglett (figurative) blood money just a couple of weeks ago. The first few days of breaking them in had been brutal, and part of me was irritated, knowing that I'd probably grow out of them in a year or so.

Many other parts of me (particularly those at the bottom of my legs) were thankful that right now I had comfortable shoes to trek around difficult terrain in. My suspicions about a wilderness excursion weren't founded on nothing. My interview was scheduled at a ranger station posted on the eastern outskirts of Techne City, right on the edge of Cesnine Forest. The territory was untamed, but hardly dangerous. At least, not on the edges anyway.

There were all kinds of stories about the deep forest, but most of them were probably fiction and hyperbole. I hadn't gone delving into Cesnine Forest on my own, no reason to risk it, but I could totally imagine it having something to do with this ranger-overseen interview. After all, it would have been far easier to have me come to the organization's main office, located in the Techne's city-center.

No, I could only presume that they had a good reason why I should make the bus ride out to the city's outskirts, and I was determined to be prepared. And towards that end, I'd spent an inordinate amount of time the previous evening ensuring that my satchel contained everything I could possibly need. Sunscreen, Poké Balls, bag lunch, Falinks chow, two potions, an antidote, extra shoes, an extra shirt, a towel, three repels, and more. I had it all.

I was still a little unsure about this whole ranger thing, but if I was going to try it out, there was no reason not to give it everything I had. A particularly large pothole jolted me out of my reverie, and pulled my attention back from last night's preparations. The bus driver was speaking into a microphone, informing the vehicle's few passengers that the Argan street stop was approaching, and after consulting a scrawled memo with directions on it, I pulled the cord to signal the driver that this was my stop.

I ended up being the only one leaving the bus, and I immediately released my knights out onto the grassy dirt that ran alongside the asphalt.

"Well guys, we're close. Should be a five minute walk from here." I pulled a refurbished Pokégear out of my satchel, a gift from my parents that they had insisted on when they'd learned that I'd been venturing out past the city's edges, and flicked the device on. The tiny electronic screen flared to life, and I checked the immediate area, trying to match the landmarks listed in my memo to what I was seeing on the device's grainy map. Once I was sure I was on the correct road, I swapped the device to compass mode.

It wasn't too hard to find the station after that, walking east and looking for buildings along the burning asphalt. The ranger station ended up being a squat, brutal structure in the same crimson that had decorated their stationary. The color was a bit… gaudier when plastered upon the facade of a building rather than on a piece of parchment, but at least the structure would be visible from far away, which was definitely an advantage when you wanted to attract wayward travelers and deter wild Pokémon.

"Looks like the place, huh guys?" I asked my knights, once the structure was in view.

"Color's kinda, garish, right?" I got a couple of chirrups of affirmation from the Falinks trekking behind me, but a few dissenting voices as well, surprisingly. Well, surprisingly for me. Practically incomprehensibly for my poor knights, who looked at each other like they'd never seen one another. Galad and Kay were both in my camp, but Percy and Bers actually seemed to like the color.

Tristan agreed with them, I could tell, but he either didn't want to gang up and unbalance the sides, or he didn't want to express his opinion contrary to mine. Lance just didn't care, which was probably why this argument could happen in the first place. If he had a real opinion, the rest would have fallen in line with him. I appreciated that he was letting the others hash things out between themselves, and I gave him a grateful nod as we watched his brothers go at it.

We had some time, so I offered them a few minutes to work out their differences, but the argument just grew louder, and more heated, and eventually I had to step in.

"Okay guys, break it up. It's alright to have different opinions about something like how appropriate a certain color is for a building. We're not going to lose any coordination just because we're not all on the same page about a shade of red." My words had stopped the argument, but I could tell it hadn't fully defused the tension. Lance stayed uncharacteristically silent, but I could feel his eyes on me, evaluating how I was handling the situation. Luckily, I had a surefire way to divert their attention.

"Knights, let's get some training in while we can. Leap Froakies until we get to the building, let's go." I punctuated my command with a pair of sharp claps, and sure enough, my proposed distraction did the trick. My knights all lined up in formation, and I thought maybe I sensed a flash of approval from Lance. That, or he was just excited at the opportunity to get in some training. He was as much a fan of it as his brothers, after all. Probably more so.

The exercise swiftly quelled the argument, my knights forming two groups of three and taking turns leaping over one another. A full five troop-lengths was too far for any of them to jump, but they could manage two, which was already an improvement over the one that they'd been capable of when we'd started. For some reason, the irregular activity didn't interfere with their sense of formation, probably because they viewed it as an exercise, not a composition that they'd need to have ready in battle.

There was something there, the edge of an idea, but I didn't really have time to explore it before we found ourselves arriving at our destination. Now that we were closer, I gave the building another once-over. More details resolved themselves out of the crimson blur. A pair of double-doors led inside the structure, and I could see some sort of lobby through their clear, glassy facades. Windows dotted the side of the building, and the whole thing was maybe the size of a small gymnasium.

Bigger than I'd expected, but the size seemed to come with a price. Weeds had sprung up, all around the outpost, and the crimson coloration of the walls made it extremely obvious where the paint was peeling, the gray beneath standing out starkly from the red around it. The structure wasn't exactly in disrepair, but it didn't seem to be in peak condition, either. Attached to the building was a small stable, with easy access to the road.

Now that we were closer, I could make out a person tending to some Skiddos in the connected enclosure. There was even a Gogoat amongst their number, distinguishable due to its greater size and swept-back horns.

"Hi!" I called out to the figure, as our group got to the front of the stable.

"Is this Techne Ranger Outpost Seven?" The stranger turned to look at me, a disbelieving expression on their face. They turned to look at the building in question, then down at the uniform they were wearing, and then back at me. I felt my face heat up a little, and I could see that their expression had riled my knights a little. My partners were perhaps a bit overzealous to defend my honor, after recent events.

"It doesn't hurt to make sure," I told him. Now that he'd turned around, I could see that the ranger in question was a man, and an older one at that.

"I'm here for an interview?"

"Oh, you're the kid who was supposed to come in today," the grizzled-looking ranger's voice was surprisingly smooth. I'd been expecting something gravelly, but instead his tone was oddly refined.

"Well, feel free to head on in," he gestured towards the pair of double-doors on the building's front-face.

"Ask for the sergeant. One of the kids inside will help you."

"Thanks." I turned to face the building, and suppressed a grimace as a flock of Beautifly began fluttering in my gut. I took a deep breath, stamping down on the bout of nerves like a Pangoro throwing a tantrum. Now was not the time for anxiety. I'd just started making my way past the man to the door, when the elderly ranger behind me called out again.

"Oh, and return your partner. I'm sure they're well-trained, but we have some rescues in the building, and they get spooked by unfamiliar Pokémon." I wanted to argue, having my knights with me was an immense comfort, but I could hardly put my needs over those of fostered Pokémon.

"Sorry knights," I told them with a sad smile.

"I'll bring you out again as soon as you can. Try to listen through the ball until then, alright?" They seemed unhappy, but understanding, and I recalled them into their ball, before turning and heading inside. The building's interior was chokingly warm, almost hotter than it was outside. From what I could tell, there wasn't any air-conditioning running, and the heat of the day had had ample time to settle in. Did they not have any, or was it off?

At least the heat and humidity weren't any more unbearable than usual. It was certainly cooler here than it was on Techne's black-sand beaches. A few Pokémon were scattered about the interior of the building, mostly ignoring me, but I did see another human. Unfortunately, he was paying me equally little mind. The languid-looking teen was sitting at the building's front desk, and my approach didn't do anything to grab his attention.

"Um, excuse me?" I asked, trying to pull his focus to me. It took a moment, but the boy zoned into the conversation with a slow, "Whuh?" That wasn't very encouraging, but I tried to keep going, with a bit more volume.

"Excuse me? Hi. I'm here for an interview." It took a few more moments, and I was starting to think that I'd interrupted someone who'd been sleeping with their eyes open, but eventually he honed in on me.

"What'sat? Oh… kid. That's right, we had a kid coming in today." I had to fight the urge to tell him I wasn't a kid. I was on my Battle Break, which meant I'd graduated from kid-hood. I was turning thirteen in a month, damnit. I knew arguing wasn't going to help my case, though, so instead I grinned and bore it.

"That's right, I know I'm a bit early, but I didn't want to take any risks with the bus."

"Heh, yeah that thing can run sloooooow." He stretched out the last vowel in his sentence for way longer than I thought was necessary for emphasis. I felt my eye twitch, but I kept a smile plastered on my face anyway. At least irritation was better than anxiety. Maybe.

"Well, feel free to grab a seat. I'll let the boss lady know you're here, and she'll call you back when she gets a chance." He punctuated his statement with a gesture at a wooden bench, built into the wall behind me.

"Thanks," I told him, mostly keeping the sarcasm from my tone. Luckily, the teen made no indication that he'd noticed, probably because he was distracted. The desk-worker had pressed something on the desk in-front of him, and was speaking into a metal panel in languid tones. I left him to it. For a moment, I considered going to the bench, as offered, but this seemed like a good opportunity to check out the station's interior. The part of it I was in, anyway.

The first and most interesting thing to catch my eye, other than the impressively vision-straining red walls, were the Pokémon. I'd brushed past them earlier in my desire to get to the front desk, but now I turned my attention back on the critters scattered throughout the room. The ranger outside said these were rescues, but that didn't give me a lot of context. Rescues from the wild? From abuse? From illegal trafficking? Some combination of the above?

My earlier research suggested that all were possible, but there weren't any evident indicators of which might be the case for the half-dozen or so Pokémon I saw scattered throughout the lobby. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. The Emolga gliding overhead from perch to perch was certainly a native species. The poor thing was missing an ear, but was that caused by an encounter with a predator?

Or did something more nefarious happen beyond the normal bounds of Pokémon predation? A pair of Woopers wondered by, determinately ignoring or unaware of my observation. One was the standard light blue, but the other was a dark brown. Was that a shiny Pokémon? I couldn't remember Wooper's alternative coloration. I didn't even recognize the pair of creatures huddled by the back wall. The two looked similar, but subtly different.

They sort of reminded me of Pancham, but one was light tan with a crescent shape on its forehead, and the other was cream colored, and dotted with red spots. The latter creature had the strangest eyes I'd ever seen. They looked sort of like spinning spirals, and the longer I stared at them, the harder it grew to tear my gaze away. It took an effort of will, but I shut my eyes, and when I opened them again, the creature had turned around, walking away in the company of its partner.

The Pokémon walked strangely, rolling its torso as if dizzy, and trying to retain its balance. I kept staring for a few moments more, before I felt a hand land on my shoulder.

"Entrancing, isn't she?" a coarse voice asked. With an effort of will, I managed to keep from starting in surprise. I looked up, and found my gaze once again caught, this time by a human. The woman had the most piercing black irises I'd ever seen. They were the same midnight shade as her hair, which was twirled up in a no-nonsense bun. She had Kantonian features, and I was having a hard time placing her age. She could have been anywhere between twenty-five and forty, by my estimate.

The Rookidee feet and laugh lines made me think older, but the wistful smile on her face seemed so youthful.

"Poor thing wandered quite a ways from home," the ranger had released my shoulder, choosing instead to gesture over at the spotted Pokémon.

"Spindas are a Normal-type that usually stay pretty high up in the Bismouth Mountains, but when food is scarce, sometimes they send foraging parties down to sea-level." The woman's voice was surprisingly low, and had a raspy quality that I was unfamiliar with.

"You must be Fione. Sorry for getting off-topic, but I love to talk about our rescues." She spoke with a strong Kantonian accent, but her Galarian was clear and understandable all the same. She even got my name right, rhyming the first syllable with 'we' and the last with 'own.'

"No, please." I shook my head.

"I'd love to hear more, she's so interesting. Who's that Pokémon with her? A pre-evolution?" The woman's face took on a melancholy air.

"That's Teddiursa. Poor thing lost his mother in a landslide last fall. They're not in the same evolutionary line as Spinda, but Teddiursa are baby Pokémon, and they have a hard time on their own. That Spinda could have returned to her troupe by now, but she's really stepped up, and has been helping us take care of the poor cub." I looked back at the pair, recategorizing their interactions in my mind. I tried to process my feelings on the situation, and ended up coming a bit short.

"That's… bittersweet." I settled on, unsure how else to express my thoughts.

"A common story, unfortunately," the older ranger told me with a quiet sigh, before extending a hand.

"Sorry, where are my manners? I'm Sergeant Janine Egao."

"It's nice to meet you, Sergeant." I shook the woman's proffered hand.

"I'm Fione Alvida, but please, call me Fe. Are you going to be the one interviewing me?"

"That's right," the ranger nodded.

"And please, call me Janine. Now c'mon, let's go to my office." The older woman led the way, walking past the reception desk into a corridor. I couldn't help but feel a surge of relief as the crimson color-scheme that had dominated the lobby fell away once we were into the building's guts, leaving our environs a far more mundane (and less eye-searing) gray. All of the red had been starting to make my vision swim, which maybe didn't bode all that well for my future as a Ranger…

Before I could spend too much time pondering that, we arrived at a nondescript door. I shook myself out of my musing as Janine pushed it open, bringing us into a small office absolutely overflowing with papers crammed on every available surface. There were bookshelves lining the walls, each stuffed with files and curios, and a pair of desks pushed near the back wall, both topped by personal computers. A Hypno sat typing away at one of them, his fingers flying across the keyboard.

He didn't even look up at us as we came in, probably sensing our presence from who knows how far away. Janine pulled her chair out from the other station, settling down in it and gesturing to a file-covered seat in front of the desk.

"Sorry about the mess, feel free to just stick those on top of the others there," she pointed to a stack of papers tucked in one corner of the room.

"Things are pretty busy around here. Honestly, we'd be hosed without Bakiru here. He's such a big help." The Hypno offered a wave at the mention of his name, but didn't look up from the computer monitor.

"Is he your partner?" I asked as I claimed my seat. Janine responded with a rueful shake of her head, "Not in the traditional sense. He's actually an independent, and an employee of the Ranger Service, same as me. We've been working with each other for a long time though, so I guess you could call us partners in some ways."

"Oh, sorry to assume," I told the Hypno, who shrugged off my concerns without even looking up. He seemed like a pretty chill Pokémon.

"How long have you both been rangers?" I addressed my question to Janine.

"Hmm," the ranger sergeant took a couple of moments to think, before a flash of realization crossed her face.

"Ah, thanks Bakiru. It'll be thirty-four years for me in October. Tall, brooding, and yellow over here has been on the force two years less than that." The numbers surprised me, and I took a moment to recalibrate my guess about Janine's age.

"You must really love it," I hedged.

"To be in the same career that long."

"There's nothing like it." The woman nodded.

"New challenges every day, new ways to help people and Pokémon. New paperwork to fill out." That last one wasn't said with nearly as much excitement as the previous two, it did elicit what looked like a non-audible, full-body chuckle from Bakiru.

"But we'll have plenty of time to talk about the job later. First, let's talk about you." Janine started fishing around her desk, looking for something, and still without looking up from his computer, the typing Hypno psychically pulled a file from one of the bookshelves, sending it flying into the older ranger's grasp.

"Ah, thanks Bakriu. Now, let's see what we have here." Janine began rooting through the file, making evaluative noises as she went. I did my best to maintain my composure, though I couldn't help but wonder what was written in the file. Was it about me? It seemed likely. What did it say? A minute passed, then two, and I had to fight the urge to peer down at my watch. The time stretched longer and longer, the only noise the turning of pages and the click-clacking of Bakiru's fingers on the keyboard.

Something about the latter sound struck me. Was he typing slower than before? Even when he'd grabbed the file, Bakiru had been plugging away at his computer with the same speed and precision. Now though, he was slowing down. I was sure of it now. The Hypno was pecking at the keys one by one, sometimes stopping entirely, as if distracted. If exercising his telekinesis hadn't diverted his attention, what was pulling it now?

A sneaking suspicion came up in my mind, but before I could formulate a way to address my thoughts, Janine began speaking.

"So Fe, why are you interested in the FRS Juniors Program?" The older woman asked, eyes evaluating me over the lip of the file she was holding between us. For a moment, I thought about how to give the answer she was looking for, but a second thought and a glance at Bakiru convinced me that honesty was going to be my best weapon here.

"I got a recruitment letter last week, and I didn't really have anything else to do during my Battle Break. I thought this sounded sort of interesting after doing some research, so I talked it over with my partners and we decided to come in for an interview." Janine had a pen in her hands. I hadn't noticed it before, but maybe she'd grabbed it while I was answering her question. She took a note in the file, making a humming noise, and then asked another question.

"You said partners? Do you have more than one Pokémon?"

"Oh no, of course not" I hurried to reply.

"My partner is a Falinks, which is a multi-body Pokémon. Sort of like a Magneton, or a Wugtrio. Hence the plural""Ah, that makes sense," the ranger nodded, making another note.

"And were they interested in joining the service?" I took a few moments to formulate a response, before thinking of a better option.

"Why don't we ask them directly? I'm sure Bakiru could give you their answer, right?" My question elicited a grin from the older ranger, and a nod of approval.

"Good idea," she stood up, and went for the door, gesturing for Bakiru and I to follow.

"Let's go to the gym so you can let your partners out." - The gym was in better shape than the rest of the station. That wasn't saying a lot, low bars and all, but the impression it made was good. The rangers knew how to focus on what mattered. Eclectic equipment filled the space, treadmills and weight racks and devices I had no names for. A dojo probably had better equipment available, but this was a pretty impressive showing all the same.

"This is where we do our sparring." Janine informed me, gesturing at the arena. It didn't have all the trappings of a standard battle arena, but I could see the barrier emitters, and the battleground had some scattered boulders and terrain to make fights more engaging. A couple of things did strike me as odd, however.

"Why is it a rectangle?" I couldn't help but ask.

"And what are these two extra areas on the ends for?" I gestured down at the metal lines built into the ground. They demarcated the arena, forming three distinct areas. There was one large one in the center, and two more that were on either side, matching up their long sides with the short ends of the larger shape. Janine let out a hearty laugh.

"You Ferrum kids always crack me up. This is what battlegrounds look like in, well, every other region I've been in, actually. Even Orre."

"Huh." That seemed strange to me, but it wasn't like I had any evidence to refute her with. At least it was nice to have confirmation that Janine wasn't a Ferrum native.

"But… why are they shaped like this?" The ranger took a few moments, obviously formulating her answer.

"Well, circular arenas are great and all when the trainers aren't involved, but in non-Ferrum Battles, you want more space between you and your opponent's Pokémon, to limit your chance of getting hit with a stray attack." I felt my eyes widen.

"Can that happen?"

"Of course it can," Janine nodded.

"You're inside the barrier, with your partner. Need to watch yourself."

"Wait, in other regions trainers stand inside the barriers?" My question came out as more of a shout, but I couldn't help it. The idea was just so ridiculous.

"That they do," Janine confirmed with a nod.

"And to preempt your next question, there's a whole bunch of research that shows that Pokémon are stronger when their partners are in it with them. Demonstrable, scientific proof. Numbers and everything." That seemed equally ridiculous, but the older woman said it with so much confidence, I couldn't find it in me to refute her.

"And so we train like other regions because rangers don't syn with their partners out in the wild?" I asked instead. Janine nodded.

"Got it in one. I can see those test scores of yours weren't just for show." My brow furrowed.

"You have my test scores?"

"Well there had to be something in that file, and you're only twelve," the ranger replied with a laugh.

"Now c'mon, enough stalling. Let's meet this partner of yours. I've never run into a Falinks." I didn't need any more prompting. Quick as I could, I had my knights' ball off my belt and in the air. The sphere tumbled end over end, before exploding in a shower of white energy that gradually spooled into six distinct shapes. The ball flew back to my hand, and I caught in on the rebound as the energy surrounding my partners dissipated, leaving them standing on the gym floor in all their bronze glory.

"Well, aren't they just the cutest?" I heard Janine say next to me as I walked over to my knights, kneeling down so I was at their level.

"See, what'd I tell you. Released as soon as I was able," I whispered to them, before turning and gesturing at the ranger and the Hypno standing slightly behind her.

"This is sergeant Janine, and her coworker, Bakiru. They're interviewing us about why we want to join the Ranger Service." My knights perked up, and then immediately began chirruping between themselves, obviously excited. They went back and forth for a few moments, before looking at me. I read confusion in their body language, so I elaborated.

"Bakiru is a psychic type, and he can translate what you say to Janine, so you guys can answer her questions just like I can." That got another round of excited calls from my knights as they talked to, and over one another. I gave them some time to let them formulate their answer. I knew Lance could have just dictated the response for all six of them, and a month ago, I think he would have. I felt a swell of pride in my chest as he took the time instead to poll his troops, making sure to hear from each of them.

The final statement was his, and I don't think any of the seven of us would have had it any other way, but his willingness to get opinions from all of them felt, finally, like we were making steps in the right direction. After a few moments, my knights knew what they wanted to say. Lance barked out their answer. I saw Bakriu's eyes glowing, and I knew he was relaying their response to Janine. I resisted the urge to clench my hands or tap my foot, fighting to hold back any displays of impatience.

I couldn't help the tension leaving my shoulders, however, when Janine's expression went from thoughtful, to a smile.

"That's a very considered, well-reasoned response," she told my knights.

"Better than your trainer's, honestly." I saw my knights turn to me, expressions mostly wondering. Lance's eyes were narrowed. Two steps forward, one step back.

"So what other questions did you have, Janine?" Hopefully the troops would forget the ranger's offhand remark if I moved us along fast enough. No chance of that with Lance, but glossing over it with some of them was better than with none.

"I assume the interview isn't over yet?"

"Right again," the ranger replied, "but no more questions, for now. It's well-past time for a bit of action." With a flick of her wrist, Janine released a pink, blobby creature that vaguely resembled a star.

"Step into the arena, Fe. Stella and I here have a test for you and your partners."