A Quest in Hia Valley

Aimee was once again flying along with Castiel, the wind blowing her long blue scarf out behind her as they headed for Hia Valley. Apparently one of the residents of Shiver Camp had a Quest that needed to be completed and Aimee was one of the only rangers available that could make it there and back fairly quickly.

Once they reached the valley, the Pidgeot landed neatly in the snow outside of the village. He glanced around, ruffling his feathers as Aimee leaped off of his back. Checking that she still had her Styler and hadn't lost it again, she then entered the village, Castiel following close behind.
Aimee glanced around for one of the villagers, hoping that someone could tell her who it was she was supposed to find and accept the Quest from. Soon enough, she spotted a man dressed in a thick blue coat, bending down next to one of the houses. He looked like he was trying to organize something into a box of some sorts.

Without hesitation, Aimee made her way over to help. She carried the equipment that wouldn't fit into the box, into the hut. The man, grateful after getting inside and placing the box down in one corner, smiled.
"You must be the ranger they sent."
Aimee just nodded. Castiel had been allowed into the hut to stop the feathers on his legs from freezing in the snow. He tilted his head to the side slightly as if meaning to ask if this was the man they were looking for.
"Yup!" smiled Aimee, "So what was this Quest you needed us for?"

"Well it's not uncommon," began the man, who revealed himself to be the chief of the village, "But there are huge blocks of ice and snow blocking the pathways through the valley. I need a ranger to clear them for us so they don't hinder our research."
"That's understandable." replied Aimee, readily accepting the Quest, "We'll have it done in no time!"
"Thankyou." smiled the chief as Aimee and Castiel turned to leave.
Aimee waved goodbye, promising to report back later, then left the hut.

Once outside, the young ranger turned to her Pidgeot partner.
"Right then Cas. There must be loads of these ice blocks. Where should we start?"

Luna was off in the forest of Hia Vally watching the ice type Pokemon playing in the snow. She had her mask off so she wouldn't scare any of them. Her Braivary, Tsubasa was playing with a baby Delibird. The Delibird was sliding down the larger bird's back laughing with joy. This was a sutible enviroment for the Ice Pokemon. The Delibird noticed Luna and invited her to play with him.

She laughed and hopped down from the tree she was in and gracfuly landed on her feet. guess that training payed off she thought. She pulled her coat closer to her to keep herself warm. The Delibird made a snowball and threw it at Luna as she quickly raised her hands to protect herself. It busted when it hit her hand and let out a small squeel as the Delibird laughed. She growled playfully and made a small snowball and threw it gently at the Delibird

Aimee wandered through the snowy landscapes of the valley with Castiel gently flying along behind her. She was unknowingly making her way towards where Luna and Tsubasa were playing with the Delibird.

The young ranger stopped in front of a large block of ice, covered in a layer of fresh snow.
"Well I'm guessing this is one of the ones we need to get rid of. Sometimes I think people put them here on purpose though." she sighed, doing a small spin on her heels to change the direction that she was facing.

"Right. Fire types. Vulpix supposed to live around here...." she trailed off as she remembered the last quest she had done here. She hoped that the lonely Houndoom that lived in Hia Valley would be just as friendly as the last time she had been here.

Castiel landed on top of the ice block, ruffling his feathers as Aimee contemplated where to look first. The Pidgeot's attention was soon distracted by the appearance of a young Vulpix. It cautiously made it's way out of the trees that lined the area.

Aimee smiled and crouched down so that she was as close to eye level as she could get with the Vulpix. With soft tones, she beckoned the pokemon over. When it was close enough, she reached out to stroke it's head.

Aimee was an odd ranger, who preferred to try befriending pokemon first without her Styler. To her, the ranger's trademark device was only there for if she was truly in trouble or if an angry or agitated pokemon couldn't see that she was only trying to be friendly.

Whilst this was happening on one side of the ice block, Castiel turned his attention to the other side. There was a girl with a Braviary, playing with a Delibird. The Pidgeot continued to ruffle his feathers every so often to rid it of the fresh snow. He also kept his beady eyes on the strangers, trying to judge the girl's character.

Tsubasa noticed the pressence of the Pidgeott when he looked to the side. He let out an angry sound to alert his trainer, "What's the matter Tsubasa?" she asked her partner as she looked up. She saw the other bird Pokemon and continued to play with the Delibird, "It must be a Pokemon Ranger's pokemon. Ok Delibird time for you to head on home." she said to the small Pokemon. "Deli delibird(Aw I don't want to go home.)" he chirpped saddly. Luna sighed, "I know but you parent's are waiting see." she said sure enough there were two Delibird's near an icy cave waving. "Deli?(Will you come back?)" the ice bird asked. "I'll try." Luna said trying not to get the Pokemon's hopes up.

The baby delibird ran off to be with his family as Luna went over to the tree to get her things. Tsubasa was watching the other large Pokemon as if he was daring the Pidgeott to come near them. Luna grabbed her bag and put her mask on. I better get out of here befor the Ranger get here. she thought as she climbed on Tsubasa. "Pipluuuuuup!!!" came a loud cry from the forest.

Aimee immediately stood to attention as she heard the Piplup's loud cry. It was coming from behind the ice. The young ranger had a worried look in her eyes as she wondered why the pokemon would be so loud...
"Vulpix, could you work on this ice? I'll be right back."
The fire pokemon gave a small nod and started using its Flamethrower on the ice. It would be a slow process, but the Vulpix was happy to help a ranger.

Aimee then summoned Castiel down from the top of the ice, quickly hopping into his back and flying over the blockage. They soared overhead, looking for the source of the noise. At the same time, Aimee noticed the girl that Castiel had been watching a few moment ago.
Just my luck. thought Aimee, noticing the mask she was wearing. It was a pokemon hunters. I hope it wasn't here that caused that Piplup to cry out like that.

Aimee decided to avoid the hunter for now and focus on the Penguin pokemon. It wasn't long before she spotted it amongst the trees.

*In the forest*

A small Piplup was running towards to clearing where Luna and Tsubasa were right behind is was a pack of three Mightyana. Following them was a man in his late thirties on a motercycle, "Don't let it get away!" he shouted to the Mightyana. The Mightyana let out loud barks showing they understood thier orders.

*Back at the clearing*

"Tsubasa head twoard the forest!" Luna camanded to her partner. With a single flap os his mighty wings Tsubasa took flight and headed for the forest. Luna had forgotten about the Ranger that was also heading towards the forest.

Aimee watched as the Mightyena drew nearer.
"Castiel. Fly in and stop that hunter. I'll jump off and see if the Piplup is injured."
The Pidgeot nodded and swiftly glided down towards the man and his Mightyena. As he neared the ground, Aimee swiftly leaped off, landing nearby to the Piplup. She grabbed her Styler, knowing that a scared Pokemon most likely wouldn't listen to her attempts of friendship. The ranger quickly used the specialised equipment to convey her feelings of friendship to the penguin Pokemon.

Meanwhile, Castiel used Aerial Ace on the Mightyena, attempting to slow it and it's partner down.

"Tsubasa use Crush Claw on the Mightyana!" Luna shouted as she quickly hopped off her Pokemon. Still charging the Bravairy's talons soon found contact with the larg dog like Pokemon. It let out loud whimpers and struggled to get away from the large bird Pokemon. Luna hated seeing a Pokemon in pain but she had no choice in the matter she had to keep the inoccent Pokemon safe.

The Hunter growled as he saw the two girls interfearing with his capture. "Don't get in my way!" he shouted tossing a Pokeball into the air revealing a Houndoom. "Use Flamethrower! Mightyana use Crunch on that Bravairy and Pidgeott!" he shouted as the thrid Mightyana went to attack Tsubasa and the one under his claws strated to bite at his legs. The Houndoom used Flamethrower at castiel.

Whilst Aimee quickly bonded with the Piplup, scooping it into her arms where she could more easily protect it, Castiel easily dodged the Flamethrower with his nimble, aerial movements.

"Castiel, Swift!"
The Pidgeot swiftly changed tactics, flapping his wings and releasing a multitude of star shaped attacks towards the Houndoom. Aimee knew that at least one of these would hit, as Swift was a move that didn't miss.

Tsubasa quickly let go of the Mightyana has two of them where bitring at his legs. He screeched loudly causing the Mightyana to flinch sligtly. The Houndoom tried to dodge the swift attack but got hit by a few of them.(3-4) The Dark Pokemon whimpered but stood his ground, "Tsubasa use Sky Drop on Houndoom!" Luna commanded. With a screech of aprooval the large bird extended his talons and swiftly picked up the Houndoom as he flew higher into the sky. "Mightyana use Sadow Ball!" the Hunter shouted in frustration.

"Castiel, fall back!" yelled Aimee, deciding that getting the Piplup to safety was her main priority as the other person seemed to have the battle handled right at this moment.
With a short screech, the Pidgeot did as he was told, soaring past Aimee's position so that the ranger could hop onto his back. It was then that she directed him higher into the air and told him to use Swift again, being careful that none of them hit the Braviary that seemed to be fighting on their side.

All this time, Aimee also comforted and soothed the Piplup, telling it that things would soon be okay and that she'd keep it safe whilst the hunter was dealt with.

The Houndoom was struggleing to break free from Tsubasa's grip but failed miserably when Tsubasa started to sky dive towards the ground. At the last minute he opened his wings and dropped the Houndoom into the ground and flew back towards his partner. "Let's get out of here Tsubasa!" she shouted climbing on the Bravairy's back. With a curt nod he took off while the Hunter was shouting not very nice things at his Mightyana and Houndoom. Tsubasa quickly caught up with the Pidgeott, "Is Piplup alright?" Luna asked trying not to sound too concerned for the Pokemon's safty.

Aimee looked back at the hunter shouting at his pokemon, wishing that she could do something to help them too.... Alas, they probably trusted the hunter with their lives, despite the hardships. Pokemon were loyal to their masters, until the end. Aimee turned her attention to her own partner and smiled slightly. The very end.

She was snapped out of her thoughts by the girl flying on a Braviary nearby. Aimee, despite being initially cautious of the masked individual, eventually replied.
"Piplup will be fine. It's mostly just in shock."
The pokemon in question was hugging itself to Aimee's chest, as if scared that if it let go, the hunter would be back on its trail again.

Luna nodded and looked down to the ground to try to help the Piplup. If this ordeal were to make him afraid of humans who know what it may do when it evolves. Eventually she spotted an apple tree. "Follow me. Tsubasa down." she said not looking at the Ranger. Tsubasa did as he was told and started to head down being carful not to make his trainer fall.

"It's okay Piplup." Aimee whispered to the penguin pokemon. She kept uttering calm words as Castiel slowly fluttered down after the Braviary. Aimee was wondering why on earth someone like Luna would worry about pokemon, when their job in the first place was to hunt them. She recognized the mask as a hunters mask. Castiel stayed in the air, not properly getting close to Luna, in case she decided to pull something.

Luna jumpped off Tsubasa's back and landed into a tree with a few apples. She picked out a few leaving the rest for the wild Pokemon. With Tsubasa waiting pationtly she leaped back onto his back with little difficulty. She tossed two of the apples to Aimee hopping that she would catch them, give one of them to the Piplup." Luna said while giving one to Tsubasa. Tsubasa greatfully took it in his beak and started eating it.

Aimee managed to catch one of them in her hand whilst holding the Piplup with the other. Castiel swiftly caught the second in his beak. Chuckling at her Pidgeot partner who immediately dug into the apple he had caught, Aimee gave the first to the Piplup. The Penguin Pokemon stared from it to Aimee for a second before it took a tentative bite from the red fruit.
After the first bite, it seemed to decide that the apple was safe to eat and swiftly dug into it. This caused Aimee to laugh at the small water type.
"Thanks." she smiled, turning to Luna. She couldn't help wondering why she had decided to help though.

"Unlike the other Pokemon Hunters I do't have any intention of stealing other people's Pokemon. Unless they are from other Pokemon HHunters Then i will take the stolen Pokemon back and return it to it's rightful owner." Luna explained at Aimee's question. She looked at the Piplup as it ate the apple, behind her mask she let a small smaile come on her hidden face.

"If you don't intend to steal pokemon then why are you a hunter in the first place?" she asked as she nodded for Castiel to head towards the icy ground. Aimee just didn't seem to understand why any one person would want to be part of an organization and then seemingly not want to do what that organization does. I mean, fair enough people could be double agents... but she still didn't understand it.

"I was taken from my home after I started out on my Pokemon journey. Since then I've been trained to become a Pokemon Hunter. I've tried to escape several time befor but he always caught me and brought me back." Luna said as she patted Tsubasa's heasd signaling for him to head to the ground. Luna got off Tsubasa and landed on the ground. "What made you to become a Pokemon Ranger?" she asked.

"How does that work? I mean... you're alone now... Why not just run from here?" she asked, glancing at Luna then back down to the Piplup as it finished the apple in record time.

"When I was younger I would always come to Vientown and see the rangers patrolling. I guess I admired the bonds they shared with pokemon and wanted to help people and pokemon as much as I could."

"I don't know, but it feels like I have to wait." Luna said unsure of the full reason for staying. She wanted to take her mask off but that would give the Ranger a chance to identify her when or if they saw each other again under a bad situation."Besides This place is like my home now." she added as the wind started to blow.

"Fair enough... but if you ran now... you could become a ranger yourself.... I mean. It's obvious you care about pokemon. I can see it from how friendly your Braviary is. By how much he trusts you." she smiled.

"Bravairy trust me. Besides I don't think i'm fully cut out to be a Ranger. It would be as if there was a reble in the group." Luna explained as she took of her mask. Behind the mask she looked like an ordanairy girl only with white hair. She looked at Tsubasa as he bent his head down for her to scratch it.

Aimee blinked at Luna's hair colour. Most of the time, people asked her why her hair was white. She never really had an answer other than 'I was born this way'. But she hadn't expected to meet someone with the same unusual hair colour.
Recovering from the initial shock, she replied to what Luna had said.
"I don't see how you would be a rebel. No one would have to know you were previously a hunter. People are judged on what they do in the Ranger School, not by their lives before it."