Changing of the Seasons

Page Thirty-Nine; The Nyanja Town Rangers

They left early in the morning with advice from Alex to head to Viaggio City, a port town with all kinds of battle competitions so Brooke could get some training in before her next gym challenge. 

They were stopped for lunch along the route. Titus was playing with Lukas and Ophelia along a stream while Orval was helping Logan cook lunch. Charles was watching while Brooke and Jordan had a training battle between Cooper and Ryder. 

"Okay, Cooper! Dragon claw!" 

"Focus energy, Ryder!" The cranidos stored up energy. "Now, crunch!" Jordan commanded. "Roll, Cooper!" Using his hard round shell, Cooper rolled out of the way just in time. But Ryder wasn't giving up, and kept running after his training mate. Suddenly, Ryder began to grow. He grew much taller, his gray and blue colors got darker in hue, and more spikes developed around his body. The growing stopped, and finally, Ryder was big enough to land an attack against Cooper. They stopped the battle to rush to their pokemon. Cooper looked up excitedly at his friend. "Ryder! You evolved!" Jordan greeted his rock type excitedly "Raaammm!" Ryder smiled. "Great job, dude!" Jordan pat Ryder's hard head and he smiled, nuzzling Jordan. 

Suddenly, Tutus started barking. "What is it, Titus?" Jordan asked his partner who continued barking, and pointing his nose to the opposite bank of the river. "I think he hears something on the other side of the river." Jordan looked over and suddenly, a Mightyena, a Houndoom, and a Honchcrow burst out of the brush on the other side and leaped across the river, attacking them. The trainers and pokemon scrambled to defend themselves. Then there were more trainers and pokemon on their side. The trainers were all in red and black uniforms and their pokemon all had scarves around their necks. Soon enough, the attacking pokemon were defeated. "Are you all right?" A woman in one of the uniforms with long dark blonde hair walked over to the trainers, a female pyroar by her side. "We're fine, Commander, thank you." She smiled. "Well, you can tell a ranger's rank by looking at her uniform, huh?" She seemed impressed with Jordan's knowledge and he scratched the back of his neck nervously. "I like to know all I can about the Pokemon Rangers. Especially since I'm on my journey to become one." The woman was about to reply when some of the rangers game over, holding three large men in cuffs by their arms. "Here are the poachers, Commander Hess." She nodded to them. "Get them in the truck and take them to Officer Jenny in Nyanja Town." They nodded and walked back into the woods with their pokemon. "You ought to be careful with your rare pokemon. We've been after those poachers for weeks now." 

"I think we can handle ourselves. I have five gym badges." Brooke chimed in. "Well. Why don't you let us escort you all to Nyanja Town anyway? We'll take you in our Jeeps." 

"We'd love that! Thank you, Commander." Jordan agreed enthusiastically before anyone else could say anything. "All right then, why don't you all pack up and come with me." 

The rangers took them back to Nyanja Town, and stopped in front of the ranger base that looked almost like a University Campus. "This, is the official Maroh training base for upcoming pokemon rangers." She looked to Jordan. "If you're planning on being a Ranger, this is where you'd start." 

"This place is amazing!" Jordan said excitedly, his amber eyes practically glowing. "I dont't think I ever got your names?" The Commander looked around at them all. "I'm Charles, and this is Ophelia." 

"I'm Logan, and this is Orval." 

"My name's Brooke, this is my partner, Lukas. And the kid-in-the-candy-store is Jordan and his partner, Titus." Brooke gestured over to her best friend who was looking around with wide, eager eyes. In his distracted state, he didn't notice the frisbee coming for the back of his head until it struck him. "Ow!" 

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" A brown skinned girl with long, wavy black hair rushed over to Jordan and picked up the disk, a mightyena trailing behind her. "Say, are you new here? I don't think I've seen you before." She smiled at him as Titus and the mightyena began introducing themselves to each other. "No, I'm just looking around. My name's Jordan, and this is my partner, Titus."