Sage woke up as Fearow and Minun talked about the rangers. They paused as he yawned. He noticed the duo pokemon walk over and smiled.

"Hey Fearow..."

It nodded to its partner as Minun jumped onto the bed. A bad memory flew through his head that made him pause.

"You were the Minun from before... right?"

It nodded as he paused.

"Hm... then if I'm right... you want to be with Lapis?"

It nodded as he glanced at the bluenette. He was still peacefully sleeping beside him. Sage slipped off the bed with a smile.

"We'll talk to him about it later."

It nodded before following him downstairs. Cedar was arguing with some other rangers about something. It was a very one sided fight as Cedar was at the table with his head slightly down, sending glares of annoyance and probably death ones at the other rangers. Sage frowned before going over.

"What's the problem?" Alyssa hummed.

"Cedar won't relax."

"6." The others chuckled at the weak voice Cedar used to fire back.

"What are you going to do?"

"Let my Slowpoke show you how horrible your insults are. 5." His hand then rubbed his face as Sage sighed.

"Rest of you on patrol. We'll have a base meeting later." They nodded as they went out. Sage sat down next to Cedar as he huffed.

"Don't... I know... I should've rested... but I couldn't..." Minun went up onto the table and put a paw on his head. It was adorable as it checked him. "I'm fine, Minun..." It paused as it crossed its arms. Sage paused.

"Cedar, I can almost feel your temperature from here. Go to bed. You're sick and need to rest."

"But-"

"Go."

He paused before slowly getting up and heading off. His Slowpoke let him grab its tail so that it could escort him up to his room. Sage smiled at that before turning to Minun.

"How about you wake up Lapis? Be gentle about it."

It nodded before going upstairs. He smiled before relaxing a bit. In just a few minutes later, Minun led a tired Lapis to the table. He smiled at that as Lapis rubbed his eyes.

"Morning Captain..." Sage hummed as he sat down next to him. "How long was I out...?"

"Not sure... but you slept. Be happy." Lapis gazed at him.

"Mistress Ibe would be happy. I should've stayed awake..." He paused. "Though... I can't disagree that it wasn't needed." Sage chuckled as he stretched. "Hush." Sage smiled as Minun curled up on his lap while he finished waking up. He noticed the small electric type and petted it, gaining a small purr from it. Sage smiled.

"If I'm not mistaken, I think it has taken a liking of you." Lapis laughed lightly.

"It did follow me as Cedar was dragging me back. In fact, it didn't leave my side while I was trying to finish checking the area. It kept me focused... that's what had me last night. I was busy thinking about what it had done."

The Minun had fallen asleep in his lap, maintaining a calm aura in the air. Sage smiled.

"I bet you can make it your partner pokemon. You two seem to fit perfectly." Lapis nodded faintly as it stretched and sat up.

"Two things, little guy. One, why do I get to wake up but you get more time?" It smiled as it jumped up to the table, not answering the question. "Two... Do you want to be my partner?" It smiled as it nodded. He smiled as the duo hugged. Sage smiled.

"C'mon... let's do some light patrol so that you two can get to know each other better then go see Cedar." Lapis nodded as they went out.

~!_!~

When they got back, a certain ranger stood outside. Sage stopped in his tracks, grabbing Lapis's attention.

"Cap-" Sage hushed him as he eyed the female ranger that stood near the door. He motioned for Lapis to stay as he crept over. She took no notice until he sneakily jumped on her. A yelp followed as he ducked to dodge a swing.

"Sage!" He lost it as Lapis sighed.

"Wendy, Wendy, Wendy... you made that way too easy." She growled.

"Why aren't you inside?"

"I had minor patrol! I was helping a ranger and his partner bond. Hush!" Lapis chuckled, gaining the duo's attention. "Lapis, be quiet or my next message is to Mistress Lavent." Lapis stopped and frowned.

"And what? Are you going to tell her that you can't even fight an adorable little Minun?" The base leader fell quiet at that. "That's what I thought."

"Shut up." He turned to Wendy. "What are you doing here?"

"Go see for yourself. It's inside."

Sage took a shallow breath before heading inside. He paused as he saw what she meant. The Chairperson was waiting at the table.

"Chairperson..." He gulped. "Sorry that I didn-"

"I heard what happened." He paused at her words. Why was he surprised? He pulled himself together and smiled. "Why don't sit down and we talk?" He gulped before going over.

Trauma here I come.

~!_!~

He stayed quiet as she paused. His head was down as he worked to keep his composure. Everything burned inside as he waited for her answer.

"So that file holds a group of rangers' pain?" He nodded. "Who all is in there?" He pulled himself together enough to speak in a small voice.

"Me, Joel, Cameron, Elita, Chris, Sven, Barlow, Marcus, Rand, and Midnight." He buried his head further into his arms as he tried to get the pictures over the file's details out of his head. She hummed.

"And all of you have something that is keeping it locked?" He nodded. He remembered clearly. Joel with the key, Elita and Chris with the code, Cameron with the card, Sven, Marcus and Barlow with the fingerprints and Midnight with the password.

"Yep... all working together to keep it locked. It has caused way too much trauma..." He trembled as he kept his head down.

"And the only chance of seeing it is if the group is in consent?"

"Yes ma'am..." He waited quietly for her reply. Her voice came calmly, a little too calmly. It was almost threatening.

"May I see where it is resting?" He saw his fall coming. He stood up slowly, keeping his head down.

"Yeah..."

He led her to the box of "KEEP OUT" while he looked away. It almost haunted him from afar. She hummed as he sat down against the wall. He couldn't bear it.

"So this is it?"

"Yes..."

His voice sounded so weak. She smiled before turning to him.

"Here's what we'll do. It doesn't have to be moved. But if something happens that we need that file, you bring it out. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am..." He murmured almost silently. She smiled before helping him up.

"Good. I heard that the ranger we were helping arrived and Cedar was here. I would like to talk to them." He nodded as they went out.

~!_!~

Lapis ran a hand through Minun's soft fur as they went in. Wendy locked eyes with Sage and growled.

"You taught your rangers the wrong way!" Lapis stayed quiet as Sage paused.

"I didn't teach him shit, Wendy. Half of what I do to you is actually his work. Blame the right person." Lapis smiled before Minun shocked her, gaining a screech from the Sky Ranger.

"He learned well. But you should try something different sometimes." Sage scoffed.

"You have no idea. She's annoying." Lapis smiled as Minun jumped down and ran over to Cedar that was coming down. He kept a hand on Slowpoke's tail as he went over.

"Hey..." He sat down as Sage ran a hand through his hair.

"The chairperson needs to talk to you two." Lapis nodded as Cedar hummed. "I'll leave you to that." He quickly dropped a water balloon over Wendy's head before bolting. Lapis smiled as she paused.

"Yeah... he learned well." Wendy groaned.

"There's two of them. Yay." She raced out as the others giggled. "Sage!" He smiled as he raced out of the town.

"Oops! Wrong person!"