hero of oblivia

I ukelele pichu’d my photoshop

“…..What?” Daigo gave Summer a blank stare as he looked at the badge she flashed at him. Was this for fucking real? This had to be some kind of sick joke. Why him? Out of every single god damn taxi in this god damn city, it seriously had to be him? 

He placed his head on the steering wheel, trying to fight off the headache he was getting. Daigo had heard of these “Pokemon Rangers” before, but the only one’s he’s ever seen were doing those nature stuff out in the woods. Hiding themselves like morons in the grass and dirt. 

Official Ranger Business? Did that mean he had no choice but to listen? He’s had plenty of troubles dealing with coppers in the past, and he didn’t want to go say hi to them once mo-

The Ranger’s words snapped him back to reality. “Uh…sure. I guess.” Daigo mumbled as he put his foot off the brake and into the gas pedal. Driving a little faster than normal he normally would, he soon spotted the car the Ranger had been describing.

Yet not wanting to break any speeding laws, he tried to keep a moderate pace. This would not be enough to catch up the car.

Daigo refocused on the Ranger’s question. “Hide? Lady anyone could hide anywhere in this god damn city as long as they’ve got connections. You know how many alleyways they’ve got here? If they ain’t ever been here before then the easiest place to go though would be the sewers I guess.”

Summer tapped a foot as the number of vehicles between the cab and the getaway car increased. Of course, they were stuck driving reasonably among the traffic while her target sped and wove recklessly across lanes.

Even if there hadn’t been so much traffic around, it wasn’t like she could ask the driver to lean on the gas anyway. Headquarters would cover a taxi bill under transportation costs, but she was pretty sure they’d draw the line at paying for a speeding ticket.

The driver’s response to her question wasn’t particularly enthusiastic, but it did give her some useful information, which was what mattered more in her book.

“The sewers, huh? Not a bad idea,” she remarked. “Voice Nav, while you’re at it, download the layout for the sewers as well.”

“Castelia sewer system added to download queue,” the voice from her styler responded.

Antony hadn’t been operating in Castelia City as long as his other locations, at least as far as the Ranger network and local authorities were aware. But he still may have had enough time to develop the kinds of connections he needed to disappear.

Clearly she wasn’t going to be able to catch him by trying to tail him. If she could figure out where he was heading, though, she might be able to take an alternate route to cut him off.

What Summer really needed was a map. Castelia’s diagonally oriented streets and tall buildings blocking out the sun had messed with her sense of direction, without which she had no hope of guessing where Antony would run. And her styler was taking far longer to load the schematics than she wanted.

@signsofsummer

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An obligatory meeting at the Ranger Headquarters meant lots of travel, and lots of travel meant that Kate had a lot of time to herself to think about things. Her adventures, her travels and her friends past and present. Flying on the back of a Staraptor, was meant to be somewhat peaceful, but instead it turned out to be the opposite.

Their landing had been graceful, and Kate should have been peppy and happy, but it was noticeable to both the flying Pokemon, and her own partner that something was off about Kate’s mood. She pat the back of the bird, and smiled gently, signalling that he could leave if he wanted to.

Not that she ever brought up her complaints with Headquarters. After all, if she admitted to not learning anything from the training exercises, they might try to make her go through them again! Better to get them over with so she could return to the field as quickly as possible.

While Summer waited for the elevator to bring her and her partner Pokemon up to the designated meeting place, she spied a familiar face. If there was one upside to these kinds of summons to Headquarters, it was the chance to catch up with her Ranger friends. As terrible as she was at keeping in touch when on the job, she still enjoyed seeing them in person.

“Hi Kate! It’s been a while. What have you and Pachirisu been up to?” Summer asked as the pair stepped in the elevator.

Kate didn’t appear to notice her at all, eyes staring off in the distance with her face locked in an expression that looked almost painful. Ukulele Pichu directed a few questioning chirps at Pachirisu, but Kate’s partner seemed just as perturbed as the two of them.

“Hey, are you okay? Because you look terrible,” she said, waving a hand in front of Kate to catch her attention.

signsofsummer

❄ Red was out training on Poni Island, in a rather difficult-to-reach location away from the locals. This time, Red was working on powering up Blastoise’s Hydro Pump to shatter rocks. With that amount of power, even Pokémon that normally resisted water would have a tough time standing after a few shots from Blastoise’s cannons. Red was doing their own workout, as well- rolling rocks for Blastoise to target. It had been several years since they returned from Mt. Silver, and they had to start coming up with healthier habits. This included exercise, and Red knew that it was only fair to train themselves alongside their Pokémon partners. They couldn’t be the only one getting a workout, after all.

❄ In the middle of training, however, Red could feel the ground shake, the sound of a rockslide, and soon, the loud cry of a Pokémon, begging for help. They could tell instantly it was a Granbull that was in trouble, considering the Fairy type Pokémon was a common sight in this area. Red immediately called off the training session, feeling an instinct rise in them to help the suffering Pokémon.

❄ “Let’s help them, Blastoise-! Follow me!” Red called out as they followed the sound of Granbull’s cry, leading Blastoise behind them. They jumped down the side of a short cliffside, landing on their feet. Blastoise followed, though his weight caused the ground to shake a little. Running around the side of the cliff, Red finally came across a pile of rocks that had resulted from the rockslide earlier. Granbull was trapped under the rocks, and it was up to Red and Blastoise to help.

❄ Though Red had been training Blastoise to break rocks, they knew that asking Blastoise to use Hydro Pump on the rocks would only end up hurting Granbull. So Red instructed Blastoise to lift some of the rocks instead, hoping to figure out which rocks had fallen on the Pokémon’s body. Red was trying their best to lift some of the rocks as well, though they didn’t have very much upper arm strength. “We’re here to help… I promise I’ll help you escape,” Red assured Granbull. They wouldn’t give up, no matter what. But they could at least admit that having another person around to help wouldn’t be such a bad idea. Red sent out Charizard, telling her to fly around the area to find someone who could help. And Charizard was not one to turn down the needs of an injured Pokémon.

In this case, Poni Island’s kahuna had asked for someone to monitor rock slides. Heavier than usual rain along with some extra seismic activity had made them more frequent than usual. Adding to the danger inherent in any rock slide was the relative remoteness of many parts of Poni Island. The kahuna worried about people or Pokemon becoming trapped without anyone else nearby, so she asked for a Ranger to monitor the area until it became more stable.

So Summer and Ukulele Pichu had spent the past few days roaming through the Poni Wilds, keeping an eye out for anyone caught by the rock slides. While there were a few close calls, no one had been seriously injured yet, and Summer hoped to keep it that way.

In addition to its natural beauty and varied wildlife, Alola had Ride Pokemon, those trained to help Trainers with transportation or other specific tasks. The locals had been quite amused the first time she used her Capture Styler to convince a wild Toucannon to give her a lift to the next island over, and had gifted her a Ride Pager to use to call for assistance instead. So when Summer saw a Charizard land in front of her, her first instinct was that she had accidentally pressed one of the Ride Pager’s buttons.

On closer inspection, however, this Charizard wasn’t wearing the standard harness seen on all Ride Pokemon. Which meant it most likely belonged to some Trainer, since wild Charizard weren’t exactly common to Poni Island. Summer approached the Charizard, walking with a slow and relaxed motions so as not to startle it. The Pokemon appeared distressed, but wasn’t acting particularly frightened or threatening, so she didn’t feel the need to activate her Capture Styler.

As she drew closer, the Charizard lowered her body and tipped a wing towards her, still calling urgently. Summer recognized the stance - the Charizard was asking her to climb aboard. She gently pulled herself onto the Pokemon’s back and Ukulele Pichu hopped onto her shoulder.

@signsofsummer

Hell-on / Neko Case

Earthquake Weather / Beck

Emmylou / First Aid Kit

A faint tingling sensation came over him all of a sudden that morning; one that was different from the chills he’d get from a ghost crawling around in his shadow. Morty rarely felt a presence like this, but it was one that he recognized from before. He recalled a time from years ago, when he just happened to be exploring the dilapidated tower by himself, the sudden appearance of a powerful Pokemon before him left him in awe. That feeling from back then, it was unmistakably  similar to now, and to ignore it would be a wasted opportunity.

At least one of them must be nearby.

The gym leader told himself this as he made changes to his plans for the day. A late afternoon spent catching up on reading would have to wait another time. There would be plenty of chances for berry picking before the end of the season. He’ll have another day off to relax soon.

He hadn’t been expecting visitors today and had no reason to anticipate anyone coming over. But an intuitive feeling alerted the gym leader that he might have unexpected company right now. His first suspicion was Eusine, forgoing a courtesy call ahead of time while tailing Suicune all the way here. It made enough sense to him, given the circumstances.

Sure enough, his intuition hadn’t failed him as he felt the vibration of the knocking through the door when placing his hand onto it. He slid the door halfway open, just a mere few seconds after a woman’s voice from on the other side announced herself at his doorstep.

What he had not anticipated was a complete stranger standing at the door of his home. A trainer maybe? The way she was dressed made it hard for him to tell. She certainly looked more professional than the average trainer that would stop at his gym. Although, trainers typically didn’t show up at the gym leaders’ houses for a battle, especially on their day off. No matter the reason for her being here, he was prepared to turn her away in favor of his own plans to investigate the Burned Tower.

But it simply wasn’t in Morty’s nature to brush someone off like that. Whoever she was, surely she had business that was important enough for her to find his home. He could spare some common courtesy for now.

“Can I help you?”

A tall man opened the door, tall enough that Summer had to crane her neck to look him in the eye. He was dressed rather simply for someone in such a traditional town who supposedly knew so much about Johto’s legends, but there didn’t seem to be anyone else home.

“Yeah, I need to show you something,” she said, pushing past him through the doorway.  She wanted a flat surface to unroll the map onto, and there was just enough space behind the man to spread it out fully. Ukulele Pichu noticed her heading inside, and dashed across the street to follow her, abandoning the patch of flowers he had been investigating.

“Entei. Suicune. Raikou.” She traced the red, blue, and yellow markers on the map with a finger, each path ending a few miles outside Ecruteak. “Recent sightings suggest that they will all reach this city soon, but I’m not sure why they’re headed here,” Summer explained. There could be any number of reasons, from benign to terrifying, but judging from the reactions of the witnesses she’d spoken to it was at the very least an unusual phenomenon. 

“So, what do you know about Johto’s legendary beasts? Have they done anything like this before? Are they usually hostile or calm when approached by humans?” she questioned, staring up at the man expectantly. Her capture styler would note down any relevant information in he gave her in the browser entries for each Pokemon, so that she could look it up later if needed.

moodboard for Ranger Summer / @signsofsummer.

❝we’ve always defined ourselves by the ability to overcome the impossible.❞

Legendary Beasts

Another day, another lousy drive. Daigo had just gotten off with a woman who thought herself queen of the world. He didn’t know what kind of stick was shoved up her ass, but she did nothing but complain and complain. Why didn’t he drive faster? Why was he driving so recklessly? Didn’t he know how important her job was?

His shift was over, and he should’ve been heading back towards the old man’s place. Yet here he was cruising down the road, with his head held in his hand. It’s not like he really cared…he wasn’t paying for the gas. Right now he’d have time to simply unwind and calm dow-

Daigo looked to the side to see some girl in a strange costume waving desperately towards cars on the side of the street. What was this some kind of strange cosplay? A huge part of him simply wanted to pretend he didn’t see anything and keep driving, but a particularly annoying small voice kept reminding him of all the times the old man had saved his sorry ass.

He had promised to be better.

So he reluctantly slowed the taxi, and opened the window before turning towards the girl with his best attempt to look somewhat friendly. 

“Where can I take you lady?”

As soon as the taxi slowed, Summer yanked open the door and slid into the backseat. “I need you to follow that car, the blue one that just turned onto 5th Avenue.” She leaned forward between the front seats and pointed at the vehicle through the windshield.

To try and assure him she wasn’t a complete nutcase, she flashed the capture styler on her wrist and said, “Official Ranger business. Your help would be appreciated.” As a Top Ranger, she was allowed to assign herself missions, so technically she could make anything she wanted official Ranger business. But Headquarters wasn’t likely to promote anyone who would abuse that power for free Casteliacones. Not that Summer hadn’t considered it once or twice.

“Hey Nav, can you pull up a map of the nearby streets?” she asked, pulling the styler closer to her face so that the software could pick up her words more easily.

The screen glowed light blue. “Downloading maps now,” intoned a computerized voice as a progress bar displayed. “Sorry Summer, this may take a few minutes.”

She really should have downloaded the maps before starting the mission, but at the time she’d been in such a rush that the step seemed like another time-wasting formality. If this came back to bite her, she might have to start taking Headquarters’ boring procedures more seriously.

“The curtain rose and burned in the morning sun And the mountains bowed down like a ballet Like a ballet of the heart“