[Pokémon] A Ranger's Destiny [T]

[y stri]

Well, I guess this is really just third-person practice.

My adaptation of Pokemon Ranger, because I've been playing the game a lot recently.

Note: The main character, Brandon, is supposed to take the place of Solana. And by that, I mean his partner is Plusle, and Lunick appears. Why? I think it's fun to write OCs. Also, I think Solana's overrated. Just saying, almost all the Fall City Rangers are OCs.

So . . .

a ranger's destiny

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Prologue: The Road Out Of Diamond and Pearl (this post)

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prologue: the road out of diamond and pearl

According to a recent poll, Veilstone City was the least desirable city to live in. Of course, the mayor was distraught by this. "But we have a gym and Sinnoh's only department store and Game Corner!" he claimed.

Yeah, like that was going to help. There were many things in the city that residents hated. First, there was the stone everywhere. Veilstone City was built on hollowed-out bedrock, which resulted in towering stone walls surrounding the city. The walls, styled rather like a medieval town, were supposed to "give the residents a sense of security", but it only made them feel trapped.

Besides, there was nowhere for many residents to go. The ghetto took up much of the city, and it was overcrowded with people, quite a few of them homeless. Gangs were everywhere. Of course, it was nothing compared to the ghetto in Goldenrod City . . . but that's another story.

Also, there was the Team Galactic building that sat on a cliff on the north side of the city. The criminal organization had disbanded a long time ago, but nobody had bothered to demolish the building. It towered over the city like an enormous dormant robot, casting its shadow over everything.

And if none of those things bothered you, there was also the weather to deal with. It was always pouring rain, and in the winter it snowed and hailed. The only time Veilstone was free of precipitation was during the summer. The result was eroded roads and sidewalks, damp . . . everything, and a gloomy atmosphere.

And if none of those even remotely bother you, good for you.

—OoOoO—​

It was raining again. Water flowed in sheets so thick that visibility was limited to about a two-foot radius, and the sidewalks and roads were flooded and as slippery as ice.

To the residents of Veilstone, this was an all-out rainstorm. Most people stayed indoors, where it was warm and (relatively) dry.

However, there was this one boy . . .

—OoOoO—​

Brandon Solos, fifteen years old, rode his dad's old skateboard down the flooded sidewalk. The skateboard had probably been passed down for a couple generations, as its deck was cracked, its trucks were rusty, and its wheels needed to be screwed back on a long time ago.

Well, it was better than nothing, and that was all that mattered to Brandon.

Still, he would often have to get off and put a wheel back in place. When he did that, he was usually drenched by the wake of a passing car. Not that he wasn't soaked already.

Even with all the problems, he kept pressing on because of the paper he held pressed to his chest, protected from water by his shirt and hoodie and raincoat and crossed arms.

It was a letter to Spenser, leader of the Ringtown Ranger Base. Brandon had always wanted to be a Ranger ever since he was little, partly in awe of how they befriended powerful and dangerous Pokémon in ease and partly because he wanted to get out of Veilstone.

So he had written to Spenser about his desire to be a Ranger, and miraculously, he had responded. They had been writing back and forth ever since.

You have to be tough, Spenser had written. There are going to be many challenging things in your path if you want to become a Ranger.

And so Brandon had decided to go to the gym to train with the Black Belts. They bruised him a lot. He decided to train with the Gym Leader, Maylene. She pulverized him.

It was slow going, and at this rate he'd never become a Ranger. But he kept trying, and finally, he could jog from one end of the city to the other and back without feeling like his lungs were going to explode. The Black Belts couldn't knock him down with just one punch anymore.

He wrote to Spenser about that triumph.

The Base Leader responded, That's pretty good! But the most important thing about being a Ranger is your desire to protect people, the environment, and Pokémon. We have a job, and that is to make Fiore safe.

I know that, and I really want to be a Ranger, Brandon wrote. I live near a Pokémon Gym, and there are so many people who see Pokémon as nothing but tools that win battles for them. That's pretty sad. Pokémon are our friends and companions. They're not tools. Also, I live in the ghetto, and there's violence everywhere. I wish it could be safer and I could do something about it. Of course, it will never be completely safe, but we can come close, can we?

This letter was the one Brandon was currently carrying to the post office. Sure, it was raining, but Brandon was so determined to mail his letter that he couldn't even feel the water. Well, he could just be numb, but that didn't sound inspiring.

When he finally reached the post office, Brandon stepped inside and shook the water from his raincoat. Then, he carefully pulled the letter out from under his shirt. There were a few damp spots, but it didn't look like the ink was running. He quickly walked up to the counter and slid his letter onto it.

"Hey, Brandon," said the man at the counter. His name was Kyle, and he knew Brandon because he always came over to mail his letters. "Is that another letter to Spenser?"

"What do you think?" Brandon rolled his eyes.

"Again? Are you sure you're not bothering him with all your —"

"I'm going to be a Ranger," Brandon interrupted. "And I'm not bothering him. Spenser says he likes my letters."

"Oh, okay," said Kyle. He took the letter and left.

—OoOoO—​

"Dad! I'm back!" Brandon called, shutting the apartment door and hanging the raincoat on the coat rack.

"You should have waited until tomorrow," his father, Christopher Solos, said. "Tomorrow, the rain's just going to be normal. You're probably going to get sick from running around in the rain."

"Oh, please, Dad," Brandon scoffed. "Everyone's out in the rain all the time, and they aren't sick all the time, are they? A little rainstorm won't do anything."

"Sorry," replied his dad. "I just worry about you a lot." He ruffled his son's brown hair.

Brandon smirked. "Just because Mom left doesn't mean you have to be my dad and my mom."

They both laughed at that.

—OoOoO—​

The next day, Brandon found the reply to his letter and a package — he wondered what that was for — at his doorstep.

Spenser writes fast, he observed as he picked up the letter and the strange package.

Brandon tore open the envelope and pulled the letter out. A smaller square of paper fell out and onto the floor, but he didn't give it a second glance. He read the letter quickly, but his gray eyes focused on one particular point on the paper for a long time.

Finally, he put the letter down and yelled, "YEAH! I DID IT!"

"Did what?" Christopher asked, stepping into the hall with a cup of coffee.

"I'm going to be a Ranger! Spenser says he wants to meet me and see if I'm as good as I seem!" He shoved the letter in his father's face. "See? He also gave me a Ranger uniform and a ferry ticket to Fall City, which is . . ." — he reached down and picket up the ticket — ". . . right here.

"That's great! But . . ." Chris began. "You'll be in another region."

"Don't worry about it, Dad," Brandon replied. "I'll write home whenever I have time."

"But . . ." Christopher sighed. "It's really selfish of me. I know you've been wanting to get out of here ever since you were born, and you've also always wanted to be a Pokémon Ranger, but . . . It's just . . . first I lost my wife, and now I'm losing my son. But you're going to be what you've always wanted to be, and I'm proud of that. You decided to do something to get out of here instead of lying down and letting everything step on you. I . . . I hope you'll be a good Ranger."

"All right, Dad." Brandon left to pack.

In an hour, Brandon had everything he needed packed in his suitcase. He observed the ticket. "All right, the ferry's in Canalave . . ." He walked towards the door. His dad stopped him to hand him two hundred dollars.

"Bye, Brandon!" Christopher called as Brandon walked out the door. "You'll remember to write, right?"

—OoOoO—​

Having left his skateboard in the apartment, Brandon was forced to walk. Canalave City was all the way on the other side of the region, and it would take him two days to get there on foot—even more if you factored in rest, lunch, and bathroom breaks (not that the latter would cause massive delays). By then, the ferry would be long gone. Brandon sighed. This is going to be a long day, he thought, heading towards the city's west exit.

However, on the way there, he spotted a trainer and his Staraptor standing on a street corner idly.

"Can you please fly me to Canalave City?" Brandon asked.

"Sure, but it's going to cost you twenty dollars," the trainer replied. Brandon handed him the money, and the trainer climbed onto his Pokémon's back. "Hop on, kid!"

Brandon climbed onto the Staraptor and sat just behind the trainer.

"Staraptor, fly to Canalave City!" the trainer commanded.

With a few flaps of its powerful wings, the Staraptor was high in the air and heading towards Canalave City. Brandon felt like he was going to throw up, and he grabbed the Staraptor's feathers and held them tightly to stabilize himself. The bird screeched in indignation.

"It's okay, kid," the trainer replied. "Staraptor's a really smooth flier. You won't fall."

Brandon relaxed his grip and tried not to look down. Soon, the Staraptor was spiraling down towards an orange-roofed building. It landed in front of the Pokémon Center, and Brandon jumped off.

"All right, thanks!" Dragging his suitcase behind him, Brandon crossed the drawbridge and headed for the docks.

The docks of Canalave City took up almost the entire western half of the city, which had been built on either side of a strait. People and boats of various sizes were everywhere. Workers were hauling crates and nets full of fish to and from the boats. There were other people carrying suitcases just like Brandon. Many other people who seemed to be there for no apparent reason were also at the docks, too. Twenty-foot poles topped with speakers were scattered around, and people congregated at them.

"Excuse me, when does the ferry for Fall City leave?" he asked a man standing near one of the speaker poles.

"It starts boarding in ten minutes," he replied. "If I were you, I would get to the boat right now so they don't leave without you." He eyed Brandon curiously. "Where are your parents?"

"Not here. One of them is in Veilstone and the other one . . . I don't really know where she is," Brandon responded truthfully.

"Oh, okay," said the man. "I mean, the League Champion is a ten-year-old girl, so I shouldn't be surprised that there are teenagers running around and moving to Fall City."

There was a long pause. "I'm going to be a Ranger," Brandon finally said.

"Oh," the man replied.

Just then, all the speakers came to life. "Now boarding for Fall City," an amplified voice said. "All people with tickets for the ferry please go to Dock C."

A crowd of people, many with suitcases, walked towards one of the docks. Since they were probably going to Dock C, Brandon followed them up to the ferry.

"Ticket?" said a man in front of the ferry's entrance.

Brandon pulled his ferry ticket out of his back pocket and showed it to him.

"Okay, kid, you're good to go!"

Brandon stepped inside the ferry and wandered around, looking for the restroom. When he found it, he stepped inside a stall and changed into the Ranger uniform Spenser had sent him.

That being done, Brandon went out of the restroom, ordered a burger, and sat by the window, watching the Sinnoh coastline grow smaller and smaller, taking his old life with it.

Soon, he thought, I'll finally be what I've wanted to be my entire life.

A/N: I think the working title was Road to Diamond and Pearl, hence the chapter title.
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