"Emergence of stampeding tauros herd approaching Route 42! All available Rangers to your station! I repeat! Emergence of stampeding tauros herd approaching Route 42! All-"
The work of a Pokemon Ranger is not an easy one.
"This is Staff Sergeant Skye Bale! Requesting permission to take off immediately!"
"This is Major Ricky. Permission granted, Staff Sergeant! Do what you can to buy us time until reinforcements arrive!"
"I'm on it, Sir!" I replied with an affirmative through the radio as I quickly put on my flying helmet and goggles and hopped on to Tino's large scaly back. Usually I would ride on Crown instead, but time is of the essence here and Tino is undoubtedly the fastest flyer on my team.
"Let's go, Tino!"
The dragonite that I am riding on gave a loud bellow as she started to flap her wings. With a push off the ground using her hind legs, she shot off into the air.
We have to prevent the herd of wild tauros from approaching Route 42. Route 42 is the only route linking Ecruteak City and Mahogany Town, there is constant heavy traffic on that route because of this. Sure, there might be trainers there who might be able to do something to fend off a herd of stubborn and rampaging tauros, but we cannot leave anything up to chance.
Within two minutes, Tino and I are already overhead Route 42. The rest of the Rangers will probably arrive a few minutes later. I had always been one of the fastest Rangers to arrive to any scene thanks to the fact that I am a trainer that specialises in flying type pokemon. Being swift is my specialty.
"Come on out, guys! Search for the herd of rampaging tauros!"
Crown, Glide, Dia, Beats, Cotton, Echo appeared as I released them from their pokeballs. These are the members of my team.
"Zephyr!" I heard my codename being barked out through the radio. "Do you have visual yet?"
"Working on it!" I replied back to the comms as my eyes scanned the ground below. How hard can it be to spot a herd of tauros that lost control?
Crown squawked out a cry. He spotted it.
"Go!"
With my command, Crown took the lead in leading us as we flew at high speeds down from the clouds. I can hear some of the citizens commenting on our flight as we flew lower, but I don't have time for them right now.
There they are.
"Command, do you copy? This is Zephyr! I have visual! Spotted tauros herd, estimated number is at about 50! They are charging straight right for Route 42 in the section right between Ecruteak City and Mt Mortar! Requesting permission to engage!"
"This is Command. Don't engage unless absolutely necessary! The rest of the squad are right behind! ETA is two minutes!"
"No time! The herd is approaching the main road anytime now! I'm going in!"
On my signal, my entire team did a sharp nosedive towards the ground. The road running across Route 42 is heavily populated today and to make it worse, I can see a school bus driving up here soon. They probably haven't spotted the tauros herd yet.
"Tino, Hyper Beam!"
Tino immediately fired a Hyper Beam that landed close to the front of the tauros herd, forcing them to take a turn and hopefully, this is enough to turn them away from the main road.
Unfortunately, the tauros herd is hell-bent on charging ahead for reasons unknown. Plan B then.
"Hurricane!"
Crown, Tino, and Echo unleashed a massive Hurricane that blew through the herd, sweeping up some of the lighter tauros up into the swirling vortex of air. I don't want to do this if necessary, but the herd of tauros is really getting too close to the main road for comfort.
"Glide, trap them in! Stone Edge! Cotton! Sleep Powder!"
My gliscor erected walls of rock from the ground to block the remaining herd from charging ahead to the main road while my jumpluff floated overhead and scattered pollens of Sleep Powder around into the air. The rest of us flew high above the cloud of Sleep Powder to avoid inhaling it.
Meanwhile, Beats, my crobat, and Echo, my noivern, had already managed to stop another group of tauros among the herd from rampaging using Supersonic. Good. I know I can count on them.
Crown screeched out a cry, warning me of a tauros that had broken away from the herd and is still charging ahead towards Route 42. Why this species of pokemon is so stubborn and bull-headed in doing something stupid like this is still beyond the understanding of Pokemon Researchers worldwide, but I have to stop this tauros.
It is heading right for the closest moving object it could see, the approaching school bus. Why is the school bus still headed here?! Wasn't the massive Hurricane a big enough sign that there is something absolutely wrong ahead?!
"Dia!"
My skarmory dove right after the tauros, flying low and keeping itself parallel with that tauros. Whoever is driving the school bus must have finally spotted the rampaging tauros, seeing as how the bus is now trying to swerve itself out of the way.
It won't make it in time unless we do something about it.
"Steel Wing!"
A mid-air twist helped Dia to change direction abruptly and to slam her massive sturdy wing at the tauros's side, knocking it away from the school bus at the last second and preventing a tragedy from happening.
That was way too close.
"That was sooo coooooool!"
"Hell yeah, big sis! You just saved our lives!"
"I want to be a Ranger too when I grow up!"
I waved a hand at the children on the bus to tell them that everything is alright now because I had it settled. I'm too tired to even speak, that tauros was so close from ramming itself into the school bus. The only thing I could manage now is to heave a sigh of relief and try to soothe my nerves. If Dia were a little slower or reacted a second later, the bus and the occupants would have been toast.
The bus had come to a stop. Glide had also used rock type techniques to temporarily block off the road until further reinforcements from the Rangers arrive to help clean up the scene. I don't need a repeat of the school bus incident earlier.
"Are you even listening to the radio?" I snarked at the bus driver the moment Tino landed on the ground. "Pretty sure we were broadcasting an emergency warning. Everyone on the bus could have died!"
"S-Sorry! But the radio on the bus had broken down this morning and I was thinking of fixing it later-"
Whatever that bus driver wanted to say was cut off when my own radio crackled to life.
"Zephyr, come in! This is Command, do you copy?"
"This is Zephyr. Situation has been resolved for now. Requesting additional reinforcement to help clean up the mess."
Broadly speaking, a Ranger's job is to help protect the Pokemon World from threats. Rangers sometimes collaborate with the Police Force of their region or sometimes even with their own military forces if needed. The day-to-day job of a Ranger includes, and is not limited to, doing things such as containing wildfires, stop wild pokemon feuds or events that might harm the ecosystem or endanger nearby settlements, stopping and arresting poachers, etc etc.
Above all, the job of a Ranger is to save and protect lives, to maintain the delicate balance between human and pokemon.
"Have a safe trip back! And remember to fix your radio ASAP!"
I waved the bus of children goodbye after the rest of the Rangers on standby finally arrived. A Ranger among us who is also the field medic had given a quick check to ensure that no one was hurt before giving us a green light that they are safe to go.
"Not bad, Zephyr. Stopping fifty plus tauros by yourself, that is a new record."
"What can I say? I'm fabulous like that. Right, Tino?" I did an exaggerated hair sweep motion as we work alongside our pokemon in moving the unconscious herd of tauros back to wherever they came from. Some of the tauros had already begun to regain consciousness and is slowly lumbering back to the wilderness by themselves.
Tino let out a low rumble from her throat in agreement.
I also pretended that I didn't see the eye rolls that the rest of my Ranger friends did.
"That marks your 300th mission, Staff Sergeant." Major Ricky stated as he looked through the documents on his desk before raising his head to look at the Ranger standing in front of his desk at attention. One of the damn best Rangers he ever had the chance to lead.
"Really? I didn't keep count, Sir."
No one would ever believe if he told them that one of his best Rangers is only sixteen this year. With her flying types, Skye had saved many lives humans and pokemon alike in places and occasions where no one had managed to reach in time. Speed is in her blood, and each of her pokemon are speed demons in the skies as long as they have the chance to spread their wings.
Skye is the best flier they have, period. Possibly also the best flier in the entire Johto Ranger Force. Pity that he might have to give her up soon. She's too good to be confined to a small place like this.
Skye is someone who can fly even higher if given the chance to go beyond the 9th Regiment.
"Skye, if I offer you the chance to transfer to the 1st Ranger Regiment, do you want to go there?"
Major Ricky voiced his question slowly and clearly. This is a huge opportunity for Skye. The 1st Regiment in the Ranger forces only accept the elites among the elites. It is a place where only the aces of the Rangers are gathered. They take on any and all types of missions because they are expected to be able to handle themselves in any situation.
Skye can do well in such an environment. Ricky is sure of it.
"M-Me?" Skye pointed a shaky finger at herself. "I-I'm not even the best battler around!"
"Being a capable Ranger is more than just doing well in pokemon battles, Skye." Ricky emphasised as he leaned back in his seat and crossed his fingers. "Being a Ranger means being able to adapt to any and all types of situations, to be able to protect the delicate peace between humans and pokemon no matter what it takes. You have these qualities in spades, which is why I am recommending a transfer to a place where you can fully stretch your wings and fly higher."
Ricky pushed forward the form for transfer together with a pen across the table to Skye.
"If you agree, then all I need is your signature that marks your approval. I'm not going to lie, Skye. Being a member of the 1st Regiment is not easy. Their work is tough. In the 9th Regiment, we specialise in Ground and Mountain Search and Rescue Operations. There's no such thing as specialisation in the 1st Regiment. As a member of the 1st Regiment, you are expected to be good at everything and be better than even that. Keep that in mind before you sign the form."
"I accept."
The quickness of her response and the determination in Skye's voice got even him to be taken aback in surprise, but that expression melted to one of pride a mere second later.
He had raised a fine Ranger in this one.
"Give them hell, Staff Sergeant."
Unlike the 9th Regiment which is based near Ecruteak where Ground and Mountain Search and Rescue operations are more likely to happen in Johto, the 1st Regiment of the Johto Ranger Force is located near Violet City, which is the middle of the Johto region. The 1st Regiment handles the most difficult of missions that brings them everywhere and anywhere, so locating themselves in the middle of the region helps them to travel easier. It makes sense.
So, here I am, standing right at the entrance of the Ranger camp that is the home to the 1st Regiment.
The situation between Johto and Kanto is complicated. We are two different regions, yet we are under one single government. Collectively, we refer ourselves as the Indigo, but again we are two separate entities and most of us distinguish ourselves by which region we hail from. People often say that they are either a Kantonian or a Johtonian rather than saying that they are a citizen of Indigo.
Both of our regions have a lot of shared history due to our regions' close proximity with each other. We were first collectively united under a single flag about 500 years ago by the first Indigo Champion. However, the fact is that the whole of Indigo is too large to be effectively ruled and there are constant conflicts between both regions. It's just a matter of how big or small the conflicts are.
The way Johtonians and Kantonians distinguish themselves can be easily seen even from the organisational structure of their forces. Officially, I may be a member of the Indigo Ranger Force, posted to the Johto Region, but people with the same vocation as me refer to ourselves as members of the Johto Ranger Force instead. There really isn't an 'Indigo' within the organisation, just either 'Kanto' or 'Johto'.
Such distinctiveness is toxic, in my opinion, but who am I to say anything?
The 1st Regiment is the smallest regiment when it comes to the number of Rangers that made up the regiment, but that is because the 1st Regiment are notoriously picky when it comes to who they accept into their ranks. Being a member of the 1st Regiment is like being a commando if I have to use a comparison to something I remember from my past life.
Oh yeah, reincarnated soul here, would just like a chance to point it out before I continue my rant.
Moving on.
In any case, a Ranger from the 1st Regiment in both the Johto Ranger Force and Kanto Ranger Force are given a higher status than the regular Ranger. For one, we are the only ones allowed to wear the obnoxiously obvious custom-made tabs on our Ranger jackets that explicitly have the words '1st REGIMENT' sewn on it that every member of the 1st Regiment wear with pride, like a badge of honour. Secondly, we get to use all the expensive state-of-the-art equipment that the normal Ranger might not even get to come across in their entire career. Thirdly, the food here is good.
The last one is the most important one, of course. Food is important.
Historically, the 1st Regiment maintains a strength of about 20 to 30 Rangers, which is less than 2% of their total Ranger force in the Johto region and further emphasising how hard it is to make the cut to be a part of the 1st Regiment. There are five different squadrons in Johto's 1st Regiment, namely Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, and Black.
I am posted to Black squadron, which some people in the forces had nicknamed as the oh-shit-squadron simply because they had the unfortunate luck of somehow getting constantly assigned to the worst kind of missions even by the standards of the 1st Regiment.
Lucky me.
Hope you noticed my sarcasm there.
With Cotton beside me, I opened the doors to the meeting room which I was told to report to after I had put down my stuff in my designated bunk. Another perk of being a member of the 1st Regiment is that you get to have a room of your own instead of bunking in a shared room with other people.
"Oh, you must be the new guy. HEY GUYS! THE NEWBIE IS HERE!"
A girl around my age with a bob haircut shouted out towards the back of the room the moment I entered. Seconds later, more heads popped out from other places in the briefing room.
"Eh, she sure doesn't look like much with that cutesy jumpluff."
"Be nice, Adam."
"What? We don't need weaklings who cannot hold their own in the 1st, especially not here in the Black squadron. We are the best of the fucking best, and we got this as Liz's replacement? At least Liz was a badass!"
Oh great, first day here and the hazing process has begun. Typical testosterone influenced behaviour.
"Ignore Adam, he's always like this. Name's Jacky Marsh, what's yours?"
A tall guy with softer facial features walked up to shake hands with me and I returned the gesture. A toxicroak by his side gave an audible croak and proceeded to simply stare at me without even blinking, the sac on its throat inflating and deflating at a slow rhythm.
"The girl there which just called for us is Amy Rose." Jacky pointed with a finger as he began to introduce each of my future comrades in turn. "I believe you just met Adam, so I will skip him."
"Oi."
"Pipe down, Adam. Stop making a fool out of yourself. Stop acting like you are the alpha here when you aren't even one."
Another male of average height and dark purple hair drawled out from where he sat on a nearby couch. He stood up before walking over and extend a hand towards me.
"Name's Rufus Grandell, Water Specialist. By any chance, are we going on any kind of dates soon?"
"Stop trying to pick up girls, Rufus. No one but your momma likes your piss poor face!"
A chorus of 'ooohs' and 'aaahs' immediately filled the room.
"Damn. Burn Heal for our resident flirt here, anybody?"
"Aaaand that's all of us with the exception of our boss, who is now stuck in a meeting and can only join us later." Jacky completed the introduction, ignoring how the rest of the team is now squabbling among themselves. "Including you, we are only six men strong, but what we lack in numbers, we make up for it in quality."
"Yeah, so what can you bring to the table? Or are you just another pretty face?"
"Adam." Jacky said in a warning tone to the lanky and extremely unfriendly guy who had been trying to pick a fight ever since I entered the room.
"What? You want a go, goody-two-shoes?" Adam taunted, his houndoom that is by his side gave a quiet snarl the moment Adam opened his mouth.
"Fifty pokedollars that Adam will get his ass beat by Jacky again!" Amy raised an excited hand into the air, bouncing on her feet. The furret that was resting on the floor near her all this time raised its head a little upon hearing her voice. It's probably Amy's.
"Not even a question." Rufus snorted as he folded his arms across his chest, the floatzel behind him barked out in what I think is laughter.
"Why you-"
"Actually, what do you even specialise in?" Amy questioned as her face suddenly appeared inches away from mine, her wide curious eyes staring at me. She doesn't seem like the type to have any concept of personal space.
"Flying types."
There was a muted silence in the room as everyone's gaze went to Cotton, who is standing quietly beside me with her innocent eyes staring right back at them, before going back up to stare at me.
"Jumpluffs are classified as flying types." I tried to explain upon seeing those stares. I need to defend cute, innocent Cotton from those mean stares. No one hurts my Cotton.
"I mean, sure, they don't fly, but rather catch the wind and glide instead." I tried to explain further when nobody made a sound. " Still, they are flying types and they can be very useful out in the field with what they can do."
"Still doesn't sound or look all that strong to me." Adam blurted out, one of his eyes twitching in what I think is the manner in which he displays his annoyance. "Wait, how strong are you as a trainer? How did you fare in your Conference?"
"Finished fourth. That was quite some time back though, never did try another conference to see how far I've improved."
Rufus let out a low whistle.
"Well, that spoke volumes. Not many finished fourth in their first conference attempt."
"Better than Adam, at least." Amy teased.
"OI."
"I see that you guys have already acquainted yourselves with each other."
A drawl with the energy level of a dead magikarp sounded out from where the door is, and we all turned around to see who it was. My eyes widened upon recognising who the person is and I quickly stood at attention, which I noticed that the other Rangers in the room had also done upon seeing the person in question.
"At ease, Rangers."
Pyral Furnes, Commander of the 1st Regiment Black Squadron, visually assessed us with his bloodshot eyes and a perpetual slouch, a mug of steaming coffee in hand. When was the last time he even slept? Does he even comb his hair? The energy level this guy is emitting is not even zero, it's negative.
However, Pyral Furnes is well-known among the Rangers for being one of the best and strongest Rangers the Johto Ranger Force had ever produced. The typhlosion that is walking by his side exudes nothing but power even without igniting the flames on its back. It is the type of pokemon whose aura commands respect and obedience from those around it simply by strutting around, because it is just that strong.
"Staff Sergeant Skye Bale."
"Yes, Sir!" I replied in my soldier voice, trying not to let my unease show as my new commander scrutinised me with his eyes and narrowed them slightly.
"Wait, Bale?" Adam muttered. "Isn't that the same family name as-"
"Did I give you permission to speak, Adam?"
Lieutenant Colonel Furnes slowly turned his head to face Adam, who immediately stood straighter at attention, head held high.
"No, Sir."
My new boss gave a dramatic and long sigh as he put down his mug of coffee on the table.
"Look, I know not everyone can get used to Liz leaving the team. As humans, it's normal to put up resistance as our default reaction to any kind of change, but deal with it. You are members of the 1st Regiment, Black Squadron. You guys are the fucking best of the best. You guys are nominated to be part of the 1st Regiment by your previous vocation leaders for a damn good reason, so act like it. Understood?"
"YES, SIR!"
Pyral Furnes then slowly turned to face me.
"Staff Sergeant Skye Bale, codename Zephyr, completed 300 missions since joining the Rangers, of which more than 70% consists of search and rescue operations. Flying Specialist. Excel at quick response. Earned Outstanding Ranger Award three times for three consecutive years in the 9th Regiment, earned Outstanding Airman Award two times for the past two years. Finished fourth in her first and only Conference. Quite a record, if I do say so myself."
"Thank you, Sir." I gulped, not knowing what else to respond with when my newest commander recited my entire history with the Rangers without even looking at anything. He memorised my entire profile?!
"Don't thank me too early. You and Jacky, to the practice field now. Jacky, use your nidoking against our newest member, one-on-one."
"Ouch." Amy winced a little at the sound of that. "Isn't that a little harsh, boss?"
"If she can't handle herself against Jacky's nidoking, then she didn't earn her place here. Adam has a potty mouth, but he is right. You need to bring something to the table to be part of the 1st Regiment, something valuable that can help us deal with the kind of shit that we always ended up doing."
"So you were outside eavesdropping on us." Amy muttered, which totally went ignored by Commander Furnes.
"Jacky's nidoking is an absolute beast though." Rufus added.
"All the more reason to use it to test our newest addition with it. If she can hold her own, then maybe a certain dark and edgy can stop running his mouth all the damn time."
Everyone's heads turned to Adam in unison at the comment. I've only been here for less than ten minutes, and yet I already have a good inkling on what kind of person Adam is. Wow.
"Come on, move your asses." Pyral grumbled as he walked out of the room. "Hurry and finish this battle, then I can go catch up on my damn sleep."
AN: Another pokemon fic that will tie into the world of IJWTTTW, TSOS, and OR. For my old fans, sorry if I kept you waiting. For the new readers, welcome to my world of pokemon. Hope you like what you read thus far.
Trying to come up with the premise for this fic was a nightmare because of my ambitious plan to have one story for each region (excluding Galar for now). I already had an idea of what each character from each region will be but I just got stuck at the Johto region, whose lore and backstory is considerably lacking compared to other regions. I took months, MONTHS trying to even come up with a decent first chapter for the Johto region.
Because Johto is a region that is more involved in religion and culture, I had wanted to explore that part of the pokemon world. Initially the oc was supposed to be a middle-aged man who is a religious monk at Sprout Tower. Didn't work out so well beyond the first chapter. Then I tried the religious route again by writing about a priestess who is also Chuck's daughter. It was also a disaster. Why? Because I finally realised that I am a freaking atheist that doesn't believe in God. So I will always fail to write anything relating to pokemon religion because I can never understand what it feels like to be a believer.
(Inserts facepalm here)
After two months of failed attempts at writing a story for the Johto region and staring at blank screens in my free time, I decided to write a story about pokeball smiths cos that is something unique to Johto (Remember Kurt? Apricorn pokeballs?). Failed that too, and I pretty much ragequit and shoved this story into the freezer.
So somewhere in the middle of December, I decide to pick this story up again and try again, doing everything from scratch again. This time, I tried a story about pokemon rangers since that wasn't really explored in the fanfics I read. Got my inspiration when I finally had the time to watch Captain America and the Winter Soldier to catch up on what I missed about the mcu verse cos I suddenly became a fan of it after watching Endgame. Then when Falcon's history as a para rescuer was introduced, I got the idea of having a Flying Specialist as a ranger.
My own personal rule as a writer is that for any story to be a decent story, I must be able to effortlessly write at least beyond the first three chapters. Since I think this story doesn't seem like it looks too bad after writing the first three chapters and it seemed like it could go a lot further, I decided to just go ahead with it.
Thus, Reach for the Skies is born. Ta da.
In any case, here's hoping that you guys will enjoy this story, because I'm really not sure how this will turn out. I'm really hoping that this story is at least passable.
Enjoy.
Character and pokemon list:
Name: Skye Bale, 16, Female
Known affiliation: Indigo Ranger Force, Johto Region, 9th Ranger Regiment, 1st Ranger Regiment
Pokemon Team:
1. Pidgeot (Crown), male
2. Gliscor (Glide), male
3. Skarmory (Dia), female
4. Crobat (Beats), male
5. Jumpluff (Cotton), female
6. Dragonite (Tino), female
7. Noivern (Echo), male
Name: Jacky Marsh, 19, Male
Known affiliation: Indigo Ranger Force, Johto Region, 1st Ranger Regiment
Pokemon Team:
1. Scolipede
2. Crobat
3. Tentacruel
4. Nidoking
5. Skuntank
6. Venasaur
7. Toxicroak
8. Weezing
9. Dragalge
10. Beedrill
Name: Amy Rose, 17, Female
Known affiliation: Indigo Ranger Force, Johto Region, 1st Ranger Regiment
Pokemon Team:
1. Furret
2. Pidgeot
3. Lopunny
4. Ursaring
5. Wigglytuff
6. Exploud
7. Blissey
8. Tauros
9. Miltank
Name: Adam Clive, 20, Male
Known affiliation: Indigo Ranger Force, Johto Region, 1st Ranger Regiment
Pokemon Team:
1. Houndoom
2. Honchkrow
3. Umbreon
4. Weavile
5. Shiftry
6. Sableye
7. Greninja
8. Hydreigon
9. Pangoro
10. Krookodile
Name: Rufus Grandell, 21, Male
Known affiliation: Indigo Ranger Force, Johto Region, 1st Ranger Regiment
Pokemon Team:
1. Poliwrath
2. Kingdra
3. Dewgong
4. Gyarados
5. Feraligatr
6. Slowking
7. Crawdaunt
8. Floatzel
9. Jellicent
10. Golisopod
Name: Pyral Furnes, 38, Male
Known affiliation: Indigo Ranger Force, Johto Region, 1st Ranger Regiment
Pokemon Team:
1. Typhlosion
2. Arcanine
3. Charizard
4. Magmortar
5. Magcargo
6. Alolan Marowak
7. Torkoal
8. Infernape
9. Emboar
10. Pyroar
11. Chandelure