Me: And I'm back! Happy New Year, Merry Christmas whatever! Here's a new chapter. A few notes first, the flashback isn't in Summer's point of view, why? I wanted to go deeper into everyone's feelings. Also I did give Summer and Ben a kind of strained partnership because it was more fun to write about. I'd also like to think everyone who reviewed, and Ukuele Pichu for chatting with me, also my friend from livejournal Suki for cheering me on during the last half of the story. Thanks everyone!

Nema: We don't own Pokemon! Also thank you!

Me: Now on with the story!

Parents Away, Rangers to Stay?

Chapter 5: The Goggles of Partnership!

"The second one is late," said a man as he tipped his red hat while a red haired youth nodded slowly beside him.

"Be quiet Sven!" hissed a woman with green hair as a younger girl with brown hair in pigtails watched the boy in the middle of the room.

"If this is how my partner is going to act then I don't need them!" he shouted as he looked at the clock in the meeting room.

"I'm sure Summer stopped to help someone, even if I am growing a little impatient" said an elderly man as he paced infront of the boy named Ben.

"Summer is usually on time," said the red head as he put his arms behind his head.

"Be quiet Keith!" hissed the girl with pigtails. "Still it's strange, isn't it Wendy?" she asked turning towards the green haired woman.

"You where late to your first meeting at the Union too," Sevn said to Keith as they watched the door.

"I didn't have anybody to bring me here like Kate did, plus I was helping people," Keith said as he crossed his arms.

"I could have picked you up if I knew where exactly where you where," Wendy said as the small group continued their conversation despite their earlier complaints.

"I was at the harbor, but then I suddenly saw people who needed some help with rampaging Pokemon, so I lent them a hand," Keith replied grinning.

"I'm here!" yelled a girl with brown hair and a yellow scarf around her neck as she ran into the room

"Welcome Sum-" began Hastings as the girl entered the room running so fast she tripped over her own two feet and landed with a loud thud on the floor. "Are you allright?"

"Yes," Summer said while still lying on the floor and trying to make the room stop spinning. "Everything's spinning though."

"Get up and listen closely," Hastings said as Summer began to slowly pick herself up off of the meeting room's floor.

"Yes Professor," Summer said bowing her head slightly and sighing.

"From today forward both of you will be Top Rangers, you guys are now two of six stationed in Almia. This also means you two will be partners, which means you will be assigned most of your missions together. However, this does not mean that you both will have to work together on quests and that all of your missions will not be with each other. Understand?"

"Roger!" Summer shouted saluting and standing up straight.

"Roger," Ben said with even less enthusiasm than his partner.

"Now here are your new stylers," Hastings said as he exchange Summer's old styler with one that looked like a watch. Hastings did the same with Ben before turning around and speaking once more, "These are new prototypes so I want you two to test them out and tell me how you like them. They're suppose to make carrying the styler around more convient for Rangers and allow them to move more freely in the field. Since it's always attached to your wrist it's very hard to loose too."

"Did he forget that our stylers hook onto your arm too?" Keith whispered as the professor continued to explain all the functions of the new styler.

"He's just too excited about the new styler," Wendy whispered back trying not to interrupt the professor.

"He gets sidetracked when it comes to his inventions," whispered Kate as she remembered the time she read the journal he had shared with two other high ranking people that had something to do with the Ranger Union.

"Let's just let him have his fun, Summer seems to be enjoying his talking," Sevn whispered back as he pointed to the enthusiastic brunette over his shoulder.

"Do you both understand?" Hastings asked as he finished his lecture on what the new stylers did and their various functions.

"Yes sir!" Summer chimed giving the professor a quick salute.

"Yes," Ben replied with less cheer in his voice.

"Good then I'll leave you Rangers to it then," Hastings said as he quickly exited the room to return to whatever he was doing prior to the meeting.

"Isn't this great? We get to work side by side almost all the time now!" Summer cheered as she turned to Ben, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

"It would be if I had a more suitable partner," Ben said as he turned and walked out of the room towards his bedroom.

"Where are going? Ben? Ben!" Summer called after him from the doorway of the meeting room.

"Don't worry Summer, guys like thinking that they don't need partners," Kate said as she walked over and placed a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"They think they can do everything by themselves," Wendy said as she placed her hand on the girl's other shoulder. "He'll warm up to the idea after a while, he's just being stubborn."

"Hey!" shouted Sevn and Keith at the same time. "We do not think that!"

"Yes you do," Wendy said as she walked out of the room followed by Kate and Summer. "Come on, I know exactly what will cheer you up Summer."

Present Time

"So Ben wasn't excited to become partners at first, but you two are inseperable now!" Nema shouted in shock as she listened to Summer's story.

"Yeah, he wasn't too excited to have me as his partner at first, maybe he was expecting one of the other Top Rangers to be partnered with him instead," Summer replied as she placed the new lense into the spot where the old one was.

"Nobody enjoys a new partner when they first start out," Blue Eyes said as she sat on the bed Summer slept on.

"Yeah, and we hadn't really been able to communicate since we graduated from Ranger School, but we where good friends back then," Summer replied as she started to polish her goggles.

"Come on Summer, what happens next?" Nema asked as she leaned forward in interest.

"Well it was our first day of training," Summer began again softly.

Past

"Do you two have it?" Wendy questioned as she finished explaining the proper way to fly on a Staraptor.

"Yes ma'am!" Both Top Rangers called at once standing as straight as they possibly could.

"Then why don't both of you try?" Wendy asked as she motioned the the Staraptor beside Ben. "Your partner Pokemon is a Staraptor," Wendy stated as she motioned towards the bird with her hand. This comment caused Summer to quickly raise her hand out of habit and respect for the older ranger. "Yes Summer?"

"Wendy, I don't have a partner Pokemon," Summer said, "Staraptor is Ben's partner."

"You have a styler right?" Wendy asked the younger Ranger.

"Yes ma'am," Summer replied in confusion.

"Then go capture one!" Wendy ordered as she pointed her finger towards a wild Staraptor.

"Yes ma'am!" Summer called as she ran off towards the Pokemon.

"Shall we watch?" Wendy asked Ben as she kept her eyes on the female Ranger ahead of her.

"If you want to," Ben replied in a bored voice. Truthfully he really wanted to watch his partner and see her capturing skills.

"Follow me then," Wendy ordered as she walked swiftly towards where Summer was creeping up on the Staraptor.

"Capture on!" Summer shouted once she had gotten the Staraptor's attention. The Capture Disc flew out of the styler with greater force and speed than the old stylers and quickly began it's circling. Summer began to quickly move her arm, causing the disc to circle the Staraptor even faster and a white light begin to form around the Pokemon. "Capture complete!" Summer shouted again as the disc returned to the styler and the Staraptor flew over to her.

"Good job," Wendy said as she nodded in approval of the younger ranger's capture.

"It was allright," Ben said as he crossed his arms doing his best to not let his real feelings show. Summer's capture had been an excellent one, one that proved she was a decent partner to have, but still not the best partner.

"Are we ready?" Wendy asked as enthusiasim laced her voice. Flying was one of the things Wendy loved the most about being a ranger. Being able to fly above the clouds, preforming ariel captures, these things where some of Wendy's favorites. She was ever the person who had suggested ariel captures to Professor Hastings after seeing a group of Pokemon that you couldn't normally capture on the ground while flying.

"Yes ma'am!" Choursed both rangers as they stood as straight as they possibly could with the Staraptors at their sides.

"Then let's take to the skies!" Wendy ordered as she pointed towards the blue sky. "Come here Staraptor!" She called out to her partner as it flew over ready for her to get on.

"Yes ma'am!" Summer and Ben shouted once more as they both go on their respective Staraptors ready for their first attempt at flying over the skies of Almia.

"Let's go Staraptor," Wendy said to it as she pointed towards the sky once more.

"Raptor!" Staraptor cawed as it flapped its wings and took to the sky and started circling where the other rangers where.

"Staraptor, can you please fly?" Summer asked as she stroked the bird's feathers softly.

"Raptor," it replied as it flapped it's wings and followed Wendy up into the sky.

"Let's go partner!" Ben shouted as he pointed to where he wanted his Staraptor to go.

Present Time

"So Wendy was the one who suggested the idea of ariel captures? Now I really want to meet her!" Nema shouted as she bounced up and down on her bed causing Summer to chuckle and Blue Eyes to roll her eyes and sigh.

"Be quiet before you wake the guys up," Blue Eyes hissed at Nema trying her best to quiet her down.

"Sorry, please continue Summer," Nema said quietly as she settled down for the next part of the story.

"Allright, I'm going to start right after out flying lesson," Summer began once again.

Past

"Good job, but next time try to keep your eyes open for most of the time," Wendy said as she watched the younger rangers rub their irritated eyes. They both nodded continuing their rubbing. "You know it isn't good to rub your eyes, it just bothers them more."

"Yes ma'am," they both said as they stopped rubbing their eyes and stood straight once more.

"You two are dismissed have fun! I have something to do," Wendy said as a smile graced her face and she walked off with a happy aura about her.

"Hey Ben," Summer said as she turned to her left to only notice that her partner was missing. "Ben? Ben?" She called out looking around for any sign of her partner. Summer started to run as soon as she spotted Ben's retreating figure and started calling out, "Hey Ben! Wait for me!"

"Why?" Ben asked as Summer reached his side and started matching his steps as he tried to get away from her.

"Well everyone else is on missions, and I thought it'd be a good time to catch up on how things where after we graduated, since we didn't get to see each other that much," Summer said doing her best to stay calm.

"I read the newspapers, I know what you did," Ben said as he tried to quicken his pace and get Summer to leave him alone.

"Well I don't know what you did Ben, we didn't get many newpapers around the base," Summer said as she matched his pace.

"It doesn't really matter," Ben said as he continued to quicken his pace.

"Well how about we go shopping then," Summer suggested as she continued to try and keep up with her fleeing partner. "I heard they had all kinds of useful ranger gear for sale that we could look at," she finished quickly.

"Well, I do want to look at the gear," Ben said as he weighed his choices carefully. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to go look, they could quickly get all that they would need for any missions. "Fine, I'll go, but just this once."

"Yes!" Summer cheered as she pumped her fist in to the air. "Let's go then!" Summer shouted as she grabbed Ben's hand and ran off in the direction of the store.

Present Time

"So you dragged him to a store to look at ranger stuff?" Blue Eyes asked looking at Summer like she was crazy. "Some first date."

"It wasn't a date! It was to finally make him accept me as his partner!" Summer hissed loudly as her cheeks began to slowly turn pink.

"I'm kidding! No need to be offended by it," Blue Eyes said holding her hands up in defense.

"Summer, are you blushing?" Nema innocently asked as she started at Summer's pink cheeks.

"N-n-no I'm not!" Summer shouted blushing even harder from Nema's statement. "Now do you want to hear the story or not?"

"I want to hear," Nema said softly as she sat as straight as she possibly could.

"OK let's see where was I?" Summer asked herself as she began once more.

Past

"Wow, look at all the gear!" Summer gasped as she started in amazement at all the items that lined the walls of the store they where in.

"Please keep quiet," Ben said as he picked up an item and inspected it before putting it back down and moving onto the next item on a list he held.

"Sorry," Summer whispered as she continued to look at everything in wonder. "Perfect!" Summer shouted as she picked up a pair of goggles from a display. "Hey Ben, we could wear these while flying and our eyes wouldn't become irritated!"

"Be quiet before we get kicked out," Ben said as he continued to look at the things on his list completely ignoring Summer's comment.

"Fine then, your eyes can become irritated if you want them to, but I'm going to protect mine," Summer muttered as she walked up to the cash register and smiled at the clerk. "May I please buy these?"

"Sure," said the clerk as he scanned the price tag and put the goggles in a bag.

"Thank you," Summer said as she payed the clerk and walked back over to Ben. "What are you looking at?"

"Just some climbing equipment and diving equipment," Ben said as he picked up another item and put it back down.

"Beep, beep, beep! Incoming message! Incoming message!" Screeched the stylers as they began to flash.

"This is Summer," Summer said as she flipped the lid open and the screen turned on.

"This is Ben," Ben said copying Summer as he started at the styler.

"This is operator Rhythmi of the Ranger Union, I have a mission for you two," Rhythmi said as she continued to type on the keyboard infront of her. "I'm send it to you right now."

"New mission! New mission! Water types rampaging in Pueltown! Depart immediatly!" The stylers screeched once more.

"Roger!" Ben and Summer shouted at the same time and ran out of the store towards where their stylers where telling them to go.

"This way!" Summer called as she turned a corner still running as fast as she possibly could.

"The map says it's the other way!" Ben shouted as he followed her down the street and into an alley way.

"This way is a short cut, I've done lots of missions around this area," Summer said as she turned yet another corner and came upon a small area filled with many different water type Pokemon.

"It would have taken us at least another three minutes if we had gone the way I was thinking of," Ben said as he looked at all of the water types in the area. "It would be helpful if we had some Pokemon that could use and electric type Poke Assist."

"I think there might be some Elekid over there," Summer said as she pointed in the direction she was speaking of. "I'll go get them," she said as she ran down another street living Ben by himself.

"Wait," Ben said as she disappered. "Well I guess I'll have to work on my own for a bit then," he said as he pointed his fist towards the rampaging water types. "Capture on!" He shouted as the disc flew from the styler and started to circle around the closest Pokemon. "There sure are a lot of them," Ben muttered as he finished capturing one only to have another Pokemon waiting to be captured next. "Staraptor, Poke Assist!"

"Raptor!" Staraptor cawed as it began to release gusts of wind by flapping its wings as hard as it possibly could.

"Good," Ben said as he managed to capture a few more Pokemon thanks to Staraptor's Poke Assist.

"Capture on! Elekid, Poke Assist!" Summer ordered as she jumped down from a bridge above the rampaging Pokemon.

"Kid!" Elekid responded as it shot electricity at all of the water types it possibly could.

"Capture complete!" Ben and Summer shouted as they captured the last of the remaining water type Pokemon in the small area.

"That was pretty fast," Ben said after Summer had walked towards him.

"I know Pueltown like the back of my hand," Summer said as she held up her hand.

"How do you know it so well?" Ben asked in confusion.

"This was where I was first stationed, but I did do a lot of missions all over Almia," Summer explained quickly.

"I never knew that," Ben said. Just how had he never learned where Summer was originally stationed at?

"It's fine-" Summer began before being cut off by a loud roar.

"Poleon!" Cried the Empoleon as it walked up to the rangers slowly.

"What's an Empoleon doing here?" Questioned Summer as she pointed at the giant bird as it slashed at the air around it.

"I have no idea," Ben said as he slowly began to back away from the angered Pokemon. "I have a feeling that Empoleon was the cause of this whole mess though."

"I think Empoleon got lost and somehow wound up here instead of it's home," Summer whispered to Ben as she began to back up as well.

"We should capture it then," Ben said as he readied his styler.

"Yeah," Summer replied as she did the same as Ben.

"Capture on!" They shouted as the discs flew from their stylers and started to circle around the enraged Empoleon.

"Poleon!" Empoleon shouted as it broke both capture lines causing both stylers some damaged.

"Elekid, Poke Assist!" Summer ordered as she pointed towards Empoleon. The yellow Pokemon nodded and started sending electricity at Empoleon.

"Empoleon," cawed the Pokemon as electricity went through it's body causing it to be unable to move for a little bit.

"Now!" Ben shouted as he began to make the disc move faster around Empoleon. Summer quickly nodded and started to move her own disc faster.

"Poleon!" Empoleon shouted as it slashed at the lines and smacked Ben into the nearby fountain.

"Ben!" Summer shouted before she was knocked into the fountian herself, right on top of her partner. "Oww."

"You can say that again," Ben said as he started to sit up.

"Sorry," Summer said as she quickly sat up and started moving her disc again.

"It's fine," Ben replied as he sat up and quickly started moving his own disc.

"Capture complete!" They both shouted at the same time as the discs returned to the stylers and the Empoleon stayed where it was.

"Ben we should bring it to the Union and get somebody to escort it back home," Ben said as he pointed at the Empoleon. "Summer?"

"Yes Ben?" Summer asked as she turned towards her partner.

"Can you move," Ben asked motioning to the position they where currently in.

"Sure," Summer began before screaming and falling backwards into the water and off of Ben.

"Thank you," Ben said as she stood up and help his hand out for Summer to grab.

"You're welcome," Summer said as she grabbed Ben's hand and stood up. "Wait, where are the goggles I bought?" Summer asked as she began to look around for the bag she had. "No," she whispered when her eyes finally stopped on her goggles. Both lens where broken and fragments of them could be seen scattered across the ground.

"Sorry about that Summer," Ben said as he picked up the goggles and handed them to her.

"It's fine, I'll buy another pair later," Summer said as she placed the goggles in her pocket and walked over to Empoleon and started petting the bird. "Let's go to the Union!"

"Hey welcome, what happened to you guys?" Wendy half asked and shouted as Summer and Ben walked into the Ranger Union with the Empoleon behind them.

"We fell in the fountain," Ben said as both rangers walked up to the table their shoes squeaking the whole time along with water dripping on the floor.

"We need somebody to take this Empoleon back to its home, it somehow ended up in Pueltown," Summer said as she pointed to the bird behind them.

"I'll do it," Kate said as she stood up and walked over to the Empoleon and continued to lead it outside.

"We're going to go change now," Ben and Summer said as the walked up stairs towards their rooms.

"Hey Summer," Ben said as his slid into the chair across from where she was sitting. "What are you doing?"

"One moment," Summer said as she continued to push on what she was pushing. Ben heard a snap before Summer looked up at him. "What can I do for you?"

"I got you something," Ben said as he handed her a bag.

"What is it?" Summer asked as she pulled the object out of the bag. "New goggles?"

"Your other pair broke didn't they?" Ben asked as he turned away from his partner.

"Yeah, but I'm replacing the lens," Summer said as she held up the pair of goggles with a new blue lens where the old one had been. "The original glass is very faulty, so it's best if you replace it," Sumer said as she shoved the other lens into place and set the fixed pair infront of Ben.

"Really?" Ben asked. Summer gave a quick nod and scooted the fixed pair closer to him.

"You can have those," Summer said as she poked the lens out of the pair Ben had given her and started to put the blue lenses into the holes.

"You bought them though," Ben said as he picked them up and inspected them.

"You bought these, so it's a fair trade," Summer said as she put the goggles on her head. "Put them on."

"OK," Ben said as he put the goggles on and watched as Summer smiled and reached her hand out. "What?"

"Partners?" Summer asked as she held her hand out.

"Partners," Ben said as he reached his hand out and shook Summer's.

Present

"So sometime during your mission you two gained a mutual respect for one another and went on to become the best team ever?" Nema asked as she bounced up and down on her bed.

"I wouldn't call us the best, either way time for bed Nema," Summer said as she turned off the light and got into her own bed.

"Night," Blue Eyes said as she left the room and went to where she was sleeping.

"Night Summer," Nema said as she slowly drifted off to sleep

"Night," Summer said as she began to closer her eyes only to be disturbed by a Pokemon's cry from outside. Summer quickly got out of her bed and ran into the living room only to collide with Ben and find herself on the floor. "You hear it too?"

"Yeah," Ben said as he stood up and helped Summer up. "Let's go check it out," he said as he opened the door and ran out with Summer following. "It can't be," Ben said as he suddenly stopped causing Summer to run into him.

"What is, why?" Summer asked as she stared at the people before her.

"What are you guys doing here?" Both rangers asked at once.

Me: Ok everyone who guesses who all is out there gets a cookie. There are several people just to tell you.

Nema: Thanks for reading!

Me: Don't forget to review!