*Twelve hours prior.*

Me and Ben were nervous that we were called for a private meeting with Professor Hastings. I was gripping Ben's wrist and he writhed under my grip.

"Little Bit?" Ben whispered. I hate that nickname.

"What?" I asked. I was so nervous, I didn't know what the Professor wanted. Was he going to say that our services were not needed, that our dreams of becoming Rangers were a lost cause?

"Your nails are sharp." He remarked, tugging on the wrist that I was holding. I looked at the wrist to see that my nails were peeling part of his skin like an apple.

"Sorry," I muttered and dropped his wrist. I decided to lighten the tense mood. "I must not know my own strength."

"What strength?" Ben scoffed. "You've got noodle arms and you're really short." He put a hand on my head to emphasize his point. "You're scrawny."

I huffed, pushing his hand off of my head. "I am not scrawny, I'm svelte!" Sure, I was about a foot shorter than him, but some of that was because he always spiked his hair.

"If you call a Starly a Staraptor, it's still a Starly!" Ben teased.

Professor Hastings finally showed up and jumped right into the meeting. Yup, Professor Hastings was as impatient as always.

"Young Pokemon Rangers, I have called you both because I have an extraordinary Mission for you two." He began.

"An extraordinary Mission?" Ben asked.

Hastings nodded. "I'm sure you have heard of the awful group of people who control Pokemon and take them from their homes. They're called Pokemon Pinchers." He continued. "They used to small groups, but now they are becoming a unified outfit. The question is why."

He looked me and Ben up and down. "I want you two to head for Oblivia, investigate their plans, and, if necessary, stop them. You are to depart for Oblivia immediately."

Leave it to Hastings to be as blunt as possible. "Right away, Sir!" We said at the same time.

Me and Ben ran towards the door, elbowing and pushing each other as we went out the door. We're such dorks.

*Present*

I started to regain consciousness. Where am I? Navi said something, but I couldn't hear her over the buzzing in my ears. My body hurt when I tried to move, but I pulled through the pain.

I looked around and I was surrounded by sand and water. Was I on a... Beach? I rubbed my head with my left hand and winced in pain. I looked at my hand to reveal that my hand was cut pretty badly, it didn't help that the sand that got into the wound hurt like the Distortion World.

Everything that happened replayed in my head. The meeting with Professor Hastings, going to Oblivia, saving a Pokemon, being attacked by a red-clad guy, being catapulted through the sky, and losing Ben. Arceus, I've been through a LOT!

Navi beeped again. "Current Posistion: Dolce Island in the Oblivia Region... Bzzz..."

Navi started to buzz, so I hit it with uninjured hand. "C'mon, Navi! You can't give up on me now!"

"Recovering Voice Navigator Program. Recovering Voice Navigator Program." Navi said in its robotical voice. "Please verify that you own this Styler by putting in your password."

I put in the code 6060. I know it's a stupid code, but I think it's cute. It looks like it says 'Go Go.'

"Ownership has been verified." Navi confirmed. "Recovery is almost complete."

I sighed in relief. If anything happened to my Styler, I would be lost. I tried to contact Ben, but I got a message that said that the communication features couldn't be recovered! I couldn't contact my partner!

I would never forgive myself if something ever happened to my partner, no, my best friend. I hope he's alright.

Anyways, I've got to figure out where to go and what to do. Just looking around, I can tell that this island is uninhabited, so I have to make my way over to a place where I can ask for information.

I walked through the clearing of trees behind me and stopped when I heard a noise. "Who's there?" I demanded, trying to look strong although I felt like a gust of wind would knock me over.

"Piiii-chuuu?" A small voice started.

Oh, great! This island wasn't completely deserted. I walked over to where I heard the voice and the Pichu turned when it heard me walk up. "Hi there, little guy!" I kindly said. It had a little ukelele on its back... How cute!

Pichu glared at me. Its cheeks had strings of electricity coming out of its cheeks. It's about to attack me! I jumped back right as Pichu shot lightning where I was just standing.

I hit the button on my Styler and the Capture Disc popped out. "Capture On!" I said. I was about to whirl the disc around Pichu, but my hand hurt too much. Biting my lip, I sucked it up and came through with the capture. "Capture Complete!" I whimpered out as the wound reopened.

Pichu, now realizing that I meant no harm, looked concerned. "Pipi chu?"

I smiled at it. "I-I'm okay." I told it.

"Pichu, you're okay!" A voice called out from in front of me. When the person was in sight, I saw that it was an old man. "Where are your other Pichu friends?" He asked the Pichu. Pichu shook its head.

"You don't know? I have a feeling it has to do with those shady people riding on those UFOs." Then he seemed to notice me for the first time and he looked confused. Well, duh. It's not every day that you find a random person dressed in a weird uniform roaming around an uninhabited island. "Well, what do we have here? A Pokemon Ranger! What's yer name?"

"I'm Summer Hitomi." I told him politely.

"Summer, huh? Not a bad name!" He mused. "I'm Booker, the master shipbuilder from Renbow Island across the way."

Pichu tried to get my attention. "Pichu!" It cried before taking off the little ukelele on its back and shocking the strings to play a melody.

Booker chuckled. "Looks like Ukelele Pichu has taken a shine to you!" He said. "I made that Ukelele for her and I haven't been able to take it from her since!"

I nodded and reached down to pat the little Pichu's head.

"Chaaaa!" It cried in delight.

"By the way," Booker started. "Have you seen those UFOs? I was at my house on Renbow Island when I saw them fly over Dolce Island... Now almost all of the Pokemon are missing!"

I gasped. They sounded like the Pokemon theives that tried to kill Ben!

"Ukelele Pichu is the only one here out of the rest of its Pichu friends." Booker said.

Pichu gave a sad, "Pichu..." I knew what Pichu felt like... After all, I had just gotten seperated from Ben.

"Anyways, I'm sure that they're just hidin'! Hey, Summer, do you want a ride back to Renbow Island?" He asked.

"That sure would be nice!" I said with a smile.

"Follow me, Little Lady, and I'll show you the way to the pier." Booker told me.

I followed him. We came over to a ridge and saw a bigger island not too far away. "That there is Renbow Island, Ranger!" Booker told me.

I looked at it, mystified. So that's Renbow Island... I looked back at Booker to see that he had already rushed back to the pier and got in a boat at the end of the pier.

"Hurry up! I've things to be and places to do!" He impatiently said.

He reminded me of Professor Hastings. I ran to the end of the pier with Pichu and Booker. Pichu looked disappointed that she couldn't find her friends. As we were headed to Renbow Island, I held Pichu in my arms.

"It's okay to be upset that people you care about are taken away from you..." I whispered to the Pokemon. "I don't know what happened to my partner, but I think that he was attacked by the same people."

Pichu looked at me with wide eyes. "Pi..?"

Booker looked over at us and looked me up and down. "You're hurt." He simply said.

I nodded.

"We'll patch you up once we get to my house."

And then we were silent for the rest of the trip. He had questions that he was dying to ask me, I know... But I wasn't in the mood for a game of twenty questions right now...