Disclaimer: Pokemon Ranger belongs to Nintendo, Game Freak, Creatures Inc. and Hal Laboratory

A/N: Finally. My own Pokemon Ranger fic 8D First, I'm severely disappointed by the lack of Pokemon Ranger fics. Especially good ones. Second, it is OBLIVIASHIPPING! Which also means it contains spoilers (well, for the characters anyway) for the latest Ranger game. Third, it's a little based on Daughter of Evil. Fourth, happy reading

Soldiers surrounded the town slowly, the sounds of the wildlife around them covering the sounds they made. Overhead, the moon cast a soft glow to illuminate their target. A soldier lighted a candle in a lantern and hung it on a tree. Another soldier held up a mirror and reflected the light of the candle towards the other side of the town.

Across town, one of the soldiers who was already in place yawned widely. "Are they done?" he asked. "I've been sitting here for some time now. I wanna see some action, light something on fire. You know?"

His comrade beside him laughed. "We will get that chance. After all, the King is bent on expanding his empire. What to start first than to take over and terrorize the main town of Oblivia?"

"He IS already ruling Oblivia. Well, partially. The past 2 invasions of Kokona and Naname Village do not count," the first soldier grumbled. "Here's to hoping that Aqua Town is more exciting than the past two conquests. The villagers were no match for us."

"It's bigger, it has more stone, and it's the capital of Oblivia," the second soldier said. He suddenly jumped to his feet. "I think I see the signal. I'll go call the commander."

The second soldier left and returned with their leader. "Lord Purple Eye," the first soldier greeted the leader. "It seems like all the soldiers are already in position."

Intense purple eyes watched the mirror blinking in the far side of town. "Everybody in position!" he shouted. Everywhere, soldier scrambled for their weapons and stood at attention, waiting for the command. Their commander walked to the town's main entrance, marveling the simple construction. All these will fall to the great King Euron. "CHARGE!"

-o-o-o-o-o-

In a corner house of the same town, a young girl of about ten years slumbered peacefully. That is until her mother opened the door and began to shake her frantically. "Minami, wake up!" she said. "Come on we have to go."

The girl opened her brown eyes hazily. "What…?"

"Soldiers are attacking the town," her mother said as she dragged her daughter out of her bed. "We're going to hide in the cellar."

All sleepiness from the girl's eyes left abruptly. "Who's attacking us?" she asked as she was led down the stairs to the hidden entrance to the cellar. As mother and daughter assed by a window, she chanced a look outside. Fear dawned on her as she recognized a house that was on fire. "Mother! What about—"

"Worry about yourself first, Minami," her mother chided as she pulled a rug aside to reveal a hidden trapdoor. "We'll find him when the soldiers are gone ok?" She pulled the door open. "Grandmother is already inside. I'll join you soon."

Pushing her daughter into the trapdoor, she closed the cover and pulled the rug and table back over it.

Minami stopped on her tracks after her mother closed the trapdoor. Everywhere was darkness. "Grandmother…?" she called out tentatively. Taking a step forward, she inched her way down the wooden stairs.

"Grandmother are you there?"

"Minami?" an aged voice called out. "Is that you?"

Minami sighed in relief. "Grandmother! Thank goodness. Hold on, I'll light up the room. Allumez!"

Small orbs of light surrounded her and lined the earthen wall. With light, it was possible to find her grandmother sitting on a chair in a corner of the cellar. Minami jumped down the final steps and ran to her. "What's going on?" she asked as she sat down on the floor beside her grandmother.

Her grandmother stroked Minami's hair. "Euron's soldiers. They want to claim Aqua Town for their own."

"Isn't having Kokona and Naname Village enough?" Minami asked as her eyes started to well up with tears. "What does he want with Aqua Town?" She was briefly reminded of the scene she saw outside her house. "Oh Grandmother! His house… was on fire!"

The old woman watched sadly as the girl broke down. "You can't do anything until the soldiers have left," her grandmother consoled her. "All we can do is pray hard that his family had the sense to run before the fire started to devour the wood. Later when Euron's soldiers are gone, let's put out the fire in town. Meanwhile, show me what you have learned during the last lesson."

-o-o-o-o-o-

It was not until much later that a knock sounded on the trapdoor. "Minami? Are you in there?" came a muffled voice from above. Minami leapt up from her place and dashed up the steps. The trapdoor opened with little difficulty. It was strange, considering her mother had placed the table right over it earlier. She looked up to see the local rug weaver looking down at her.

"Mr Steward?" she asked in confusion. "What are you doing here?"

"Thank goodness," the rug weaver said, pulling open the trapdoor completely. "Your mother said you were here with your grandmother. It was lucky your house didn't get completely razed by fire. Your mother sent me to get you. The fire only burned the top level and half the main room but that was all. The debris blocked the second entrance to the cellar so she went to hide with us under the town fountain. You go help the rest of the villagers. I'll help your grandmother out."

Minami nodded as she climbed out of the trapdoor and ran out of her house. The first placed she stopped at was at the house she saw on fire much earlier. There was not much left of it. All that remained were charred remains of the house foundations. She ran towards the town hall where most people gathered. The first person she saw was her mother.

"Mother!" she called out. Running towards her, she hugged her mother tightly for fear that it may be an illusion. "I was so afraid…"

"It's alright now Minami," her mother assured, hugging her daughter. "The soldiers have left." She pulled away slightly to see her daughter on the brink of crying. "What's wrong?"

"Where is he?" Minami asked. "I saw his house. It was completely burned to the ground. Where's Natsu—" She stopped midsentence when she saw the look on her mother's face.

"Sorry Minami," she said. "Someone claimed to have seen him run for it just before the fire grew bigger. But nobody has seen him since then. He could be… I don't know. Captured, or even killed for all we know." She patted her daughter sadly as the girl cried. Losing a friend never felt nice. She waited till her daughter's sobs subsided somewhat. "It's going to be fine now. You're the only junior magician in town now. Go help the other magicians in putting out the fires ok?"

Minami nodded and pulled away from her mother. Everything was not going to be fine, she just knew it. Not since the tyrant king set his sights on her town.

8 years later…

A loud knock sounded on the wooden door to her room. "Minami, wake up," Hinata called. "Come on, it's time to open the shop." Silence. "Look, if you're not getting up, I'm coming in to wake you up. And you're not going to like it."

The door swung open slowly to reveal another girl slightly younger than her with messy brown hair. "Wha… Oh, it's just you," Minami said and yawned briefly. "Get Hitomi to open with you or something. I was up all night."

Hinata scoffed. "Because you insisted on finishing that thing Kira asked you to do in one night. You're not someone who doesn't need sleep, you know. Even for a magician. Here." She placed her hand on Minami's head. Blue sparkles radiated from her hand for a moment before she removed them. "The anti-sleep spell wears off after a couple of hours. In case you forgotten, Hitomi went back to Almia last night. But you wouldn't remember it because you were up all night busy with some complicated spell."

"Oh," was the only answer the brown-haired magician gave. "Sorry Hinata."

The blue-haired girl smiled. "That's more like it," she said. "After we set up everything you can go back to sleep, ok?" She heard a barely concealed 'just use magic' from her friend before heading downstairs. After setting up the usual bottles on the shelves, Minami reached the bottom of the stairs. "I'll put the labels on the bottles by the window. You do the cleaning," Hinata told her.

Half an hour later, both magicians had the small shop set up. Hinata pointed at the wooden sign. The sign flipped over on its own. "OPEN' was shown by the door. Minami slumped down on a chair.

"What exactly were you up to all night anyway?" Hinata asked, leaning against the wooden counter. "I know it's a request from Kira, but that's overdoing it."

Minami looked up into her friend's red eyes. "I'll do anything to bring that tyrant king down to his knees," she said with determination.

Hinata sighed and looked away for a moment. "Look, we're both in the revolt that are planning to overthrow the king. But what exactly do you have against the king? Other than he attacked your home town, like the rest of us in the revolution. He invaded Fiore so much later than you did and I don't have half the fierce will you have to fight for it."

Minami kept quiet for a moment. "Eight years ago, when he attacked my home town, my best friend was lost in the foray. People claimed to have seen him just before his house was razed to the ground. Nobody seen him since," she explained. "Both of us were studying to be magicians. He wanted to leave town to explore the world. He would never have the chance to."

Hinata did not say anything. "If your friend was seen running from his blazing house, chances are he survived the fire. And he was hiding alone, or with his family. If he was hiding alone, he wouldn't know when it's safe again. I wouldn't be so pessimistic if I were you. I used to think that Kazuki was also gone for good. Look what happened."

A smile cracked on Minami's somber face. "You and Kazuki were lucky," she said. "I haven't seen him ever since."

"No use brooding over it until you see with your own eyes that your friend really is dead," Hinata pointed out. "Meanwhile, we'll just man this shop, plan with Kira, defend villages from the King all while searching for your friend, ok?"

Minami nodded. Standing up, she went round the bookcase behind the counter. The calendar caught her eye. Today was the day. Exactly eight years when she saw Natsuya's house on fire in Aqua Town.

A/N: The 'Review' button is a friend XD I really am in need of criticism. It's been quite some time since I last wrote anything so I wanna see if I'm losing my touch.