"See? That wasn't too long of a ride, was it?" Booker asked as soon as he got the boat tied up on a pier beside a large house with an unfinished boat out front. I'm assuming that's his house.

Three kids ran up to us as soon as we got out of the boat. "Welcome back, Booker!" A little kid with green hair said with a smile.

Booker ruffled his hair. "Hello, Ralph. You're nice and dirty... Full of energy as always, I see!"

Ralph immediately fixed his hair. "Aw, stop! You're embarrassing me!" He whined. Then he noticed me. "Who's that?"

"I'm Summer Hitomi, a Pokemon Ranger." I introduced myself.

At that, all of the kids bombarded me with all kinds of questions. "Really? Her uniform is different!" A brunette boy said.

"I've never seen a Ranger with a yellow scarf and red goggles before!" A redheaded little piped up, reaching a tentative hand out to touch my scarf. I took it off and let her hold it. She sighed and rubbed her face on it. "It's so soft! And it smells like flowers!" She reluctantly handed the scarf back to me.

"She may look different than the Ranger we're used to, but she's definetely a Ranger. I saw her capture a Pokemon with my very own eyes!" Booker told them.

Their eyes went wide and Ralph said that he was going to tell the village that a Ranger was here, because they were upset over the whole UFO thing.

Booker smiled when Ralph ran off. "He's such a good kid." Then he turned to me. "You look tuckered out. You should come into my house so that we can patch you up and you can rest."

I smiled. "Thank you. I appreciate your kindness." Pichu followed closely behind me as I followed Booker. I don't know why, but Pichu never came into the house. Weird.

"Welcome home, Boss!" A green haired guy said. He looked at me intently. "Who's this?!" He cried before going into a rant about Booker hiring me and firing him.

"Nick, settle down and get the First-Aid kit! Our guest is hurt!" Booker snapped. Nick nodded and went to get the kit. "Anyways, Summer, what were you doing on Dolce Island, and why are your clothes soaked?" Booker offered me a chair to sit in and I almost collapsed in it.

Crap. I have to answer him because he's being hospitable, don't I? I sighed. "Well, it's a long story..." They deserved to know, and I told them everything in great detail. "And now I'm here." I finished sheepishly.

Booker was as mad as a Gyarados. "Those people on UFOs took Dolce Island's Pokemon! What an unbelievable group of good-fer-nothin's!" He growled.

"What I find worrying is your story about the other Ranger." Nick started as he tended to the gash on my arm and the burns on my arms and legs. "Oh no! Could it be?! Your partner's been caught by the bad guys and bound with a rope in-"

I had a knot in my stomach imagining Ben badly beaten and bound tightly in rope. It felt wrong without Ben here, to cheer me up when I feel down. What if Nick wasn't that far off from the truth? What if the bad guys actually thought that they could solve their little Ranger problems by killing-

"Nick, knock of that worthless daydreamin'!" Booker snapped, bringing me out of my horrible daydream/nightmare... Daymare? Ah, whatever.

"S-Sorry..." Nick stuttered as he went back to bandaging my left hand.

"Summer, being seperated from your partner and washin' up here has probably made you a little unsure, but don't worry none. I'm here and so is Nick and Little Ralph. You're not alone." Booker told me. I offered him a weak smile in response. I hardly knew these people, but they were doing their best to make me feel comfortable... I still miss Ben.

"Thank you." I said to Booker and Nick with sincerity.

"Hey, Ukelele Pichu could play you a cheery song to make you feel better!" Booker suggested, looking for Pichu. "Where is she?"

"Umm... She followed us to the door, but she never came in." I said. I have a bad feeling about what happened to Pichu...

Ralph rushed in. "W-we've got big trouble!" Ralph said, out of breath from running. "The UFOs are back!"

We all exchanged glances.

"Really? Where we they headin'?" Booker demanded.

"Towards Teakwood Forest!" Ralph said. "Arley went to see what's going on, but he hasn't come back yet!"

Booker turned to me. "Summer, I'm sorry to ask favors when you're tired and hurt, but..."

I offered him a smile. "I understand." I looked towards Ralph. "Can you lead me to Teakwood Forest?"

He nodded hurriedly and I followed him out of the door. We went through a small village and past an old stone altar before we finally came across the forest. I ducked and weaved through trees. It was much faster than taking that stupid path. It wasn't long before I saw two Pokemon Pinchers at the mouth of the cave and... Ukelele Pichu?

By the looks of things, Pichu was pissed off. I am, too. These sons of Arcanines took my partner, too! Although, it was possible that Ben got away...

Pichu looked like it was about to shock both of those grunts when they started laughing at him.

"Look, Sophia! This Pichu must be mad at us for taking its friends and followed us here from Dolce Island."

"Oh?" The other grunt replied. "Then, Pichu, hold still and you can join them!"

The two grunts surrounded Pichu and were about to capture them with their control gauntlets. "STOP IT!!" I screamed at them, charging the girl.

The girl fell down. "Ow! What the Distortion World?!" She screamed.

The other guy looked suprised to see me. "I heard that there was only one Ranger in Oblivia!" Then he gave me an evil smirk. "I guess that we'll just have to get rid of the extra one."

They used their control gauntlets to tell a Buizel and Crogunk to attack me. "Capture On!" I cried, launching the Capture Disc out and whipped it in circles around the Pokemon, careful to avoid their attacks. My wrist hurt like the Distortion World, but I pulled through. "Capture Complete!"

They gawked, then fled like cowards. Ralph stared at me wide eyed. "That was awesome!"

I bent down to Pichu. "Are you okay, Pichu?" I asked. Pichu gave me an appreciative nod before running back into the cave. "Come back!" I yelled after it. I looked over to Ralph. "C'mon."

I hurried into the dark cave and hurried after Pichu. I caught sight of her with a burly man in green. Only when I got closer did I see faint wrinkles and graying hair.

"Arley!" Ralph cried.

The man looked up from where he was scolding Pichu. I ran up to him and picked up Ukelele Pichu. "Ralph?" Arley asked. "I've told you not to come in here! It's too dangerous for a child like you to-" He trailed off when he really noticed me. "Oh. I'm guessing by your looks that you're a Pokemon Ranger?"

I nodded sharply. "Yes. Ralph was really worried about you, so he wanted me to come find you. Obviously, I didn't know who you were, so Ralph offered to tag along." I half-lied. Ralph tagged along more because he was worried than I needed Ralph's assistance in indentifying him.

Arley's face softened. "I'm sorry that I snapped at you. But I'm fine. I just wanted to see what these people wanted from the memorial found deeper in this cave. It seems that they're investigating the monument of a very powerful Pokemon while it is lured away. It doesn't seem like they mean to harm us, though."

While Arley was explaining the situation, Pichu snuck past Arley. "Hey, wait!" Arley called after Pichu.

I hurried after her. "Pichu!" I ran after her.

Pichu attacked one of the Pinchers and the woman threw Pichu off of her when Pichu hit the ground, it broke her ukelele. Pichu looked at it sadly. I couldn't stand to see Pichu look so sad. Keep this in mind, I don't condone unnecessary violence, but that bitch deserved to be slapped down. So I lunged for her.

Unluckily, Ralph arrived just in time to hold me back. Then the grunt has enough nerve to lie about breaking the ukelele and then attacks me with a Cranidos.

I captured it in five seconds flat. Then they ran away like cowards. Then another grunt showed up to talk to the other two, saying something about luring away Raikou. Then, I couldn't believe my eyes... I actually SAW a Raikou!!

I wish that Ben could've been here to see it. What are the chances of seeing one again? Great, now I'm upset again when I should be wondering about what the Pinchers are up to.

Ralph started to babble about how happy he was that he saw a Raikou when Pichu picked up her splintered ukelele and ran off. I was about to go after her again when Arley came in with an angry attitude.

"Those disrespectful simpletons!" He roared. "I thought they were only here to visit the monument! How dare they?!"

Ralph turned to me. "Well, I guess this is Mission Clear, right?" Ralph asked.

Since he said the magical words, I couldn't help but spin and do my Ranger pose. Then I ran out of the cave to find Pichu with Arley and Ralph at my heels.

When we got back to the village, there was an old doctor there giving medical checkups.

Arley smiled at the sight of the doctor. "Ah, Doctor Edward! How have you been?" He asked.

Dr. Edward turned to look at Arley. "Hello, Arley. I see that you're looking as healthy as ever!" Then Edward chanced a glance at me. "And who is this yound person with you?"

"I'm Summer Hitomi." I introduced myself.

"She's a Pokemon Ranger!" Ralph piped in.

Dr. Edward glanced over me. "You're really hurt!" He took my left wrist, examining the bandages that were now soaked with blood.

Heh... I guess I reopened the cut and overdid it when I was capturing Pokemon.

Dr. Edward silently and quickly took care of my wound and re-wrapped it. He handed me a bag of bandages, some disinfectant, and some salve to put on my burns. "It looks like you've been through a lot. Please take this for your injuries. Think of it as a gift from me." He told me with a warm smile.

I smiled and gave him a hug. What can I say? I'm a hugger. "Thank you, Doctor Edward. You're a very kind man." I whispered in his ear.

He looked touched by my words. "Please take care of yourself, Summer." He said. "I hope to see you again with no injuries."

"I'll try my best." I promised.

Then Arley complained about his back, so Dr. Edward took him back to Arley's house to give him a proper check up.

Sticking the medical supplies that Dr. Edward gave me into the waterproof yellow backpack on my back. Which reminds me... I dug through my bag and almost collapsed with relief. The letters that me and my sister sent back and forth when she was at the Ranger School and Ranger Union back in Almia were untouched. I'm so glad that Ben insisted that we got matching yellow waterproof backpacks instead of the blue backpacks that weren't. Even though I didn't like the yellow backpacks, they saved those precious letters, so I'm thankful.

I miss Ben so much that it hurts. I need my best friend.

I was snapped back to reality when I thought of Pichu. "Oh! Has anyone seen a Pichu with a broken ukelele?" I asked the townspeople.

An old man nodded. "Yes. It was headed over towards Booker's house."

"Thank you!" I said before I ran to Booker's house.