Hey, guys! My name is Serena!

Welcome to Shadows of Almia: The Light of Vantonage! This is a retelling of the second Pokemon Ranger game, with my own little twists, of course! ;)

I've loved the Pokemon games my entire life. This may be one of my favorite Pokemon games ever. I even have a poster for it in my room! Ever since this game came out, I fell in love with the characters (especially a certain idiot we all love). A few years ago I decided to start writing this story. I tried and failed. A few months ago, I tried again. This time, I was able to finish the story! Yes, this story is already completed, meaning updates will be fast! (I joined fanfiction after writing the story)

Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN POKEMON. Sometimes I wish I did so I could help write these amazing stories we all know and love!

Claimer for now and all chapters: I do technically own all of the changes I've made, and Sparkette's name. When I first started this story, I forgot the name of the official character in the game. (I now know it's Kate) so I started writing this story using the name I chose for my character as a kid, Sparkette. When I did discover the real name, I didn't have the heart to change it.

This is my first time using Fanfiction. Just warning you guys.

Now then, let us begin...

"Now, I need you to catch this Pikachu," the man in a green uniform said to me. I had never been so nervous in my entire life. Catching a Pikachu may have sounded easy to you, but to me it was the only way I could get into my dream school, the Ranger School. And the only way I could become a Pokemon Ranger. A Pokemon Ranger is a person that uses a capture styler to catch Pokemon by spinning a little disk around a Pokemon. It may sound simple, but it was really hard.

I exhaled and picked up the green School Styler. I faced the Pikachu and sent the little disk out of the styler. Following this disk was a blue line. I spun the styler in circles around the Pikachu until the line from the styler disappeared and the Pikachu rushed over to me.

"Okay, good going!" the man said. The Pikachu ran to stand next to him. Suddenly, the man laughed. I backed away, slightly freaked out.

"My name, it is Kaplan," he said, smiling. Okay, very freaked out. "You are now a member of our secret army, the inscrutable Team School." Maybe going to Ranger School wasn't the best idea… "As proof of your membership, you may keep the School Styler you just used. Together, we shall rule the world…" I don't want to rule the world!

"Oh, please, Mr. Kaplan!" a female voice exclaimed. A woman with red-brown hair walked into the room. She wore a green blouse and a white skirt.

"Please don't tease my students with a silly performance like that!" she said, crossing her arms.

The man, Mr. Kaplan, I guess, laughed. "Sorry. The timing was just too perfect to miss. Congratulations! You have passed the Ranger School's entrance exam with flying colors! That was really quite an impressive capture."

"Thanks, I guess," I said, still confused by everything that was happening.

The woman smiled at me. "Congratulations on getting accepted!" she said. "Starting today, you are officially a student of the Ranger School. My name is Ms. April. I'm your class's teacher. I'm pleased to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too," I said. "My name is Sparkette."

Ms. April smiled. "Come with me, Sparkette. Your class is waiting for you."

I nodded, and followed Ms April out of the shack. We walked across the school grounds. The grounds were smaller than I had expected, they were basically just an open field with a few paths leading to who knows where.

When we got inside, Ms. April lead me to the first door on our left. Inside there were about seven students. Ms. April walked to the front of the room, leaving me in the back unnoticed.

"Good morning, everyone!" she said.

"Good morning!" everyone else replied.

"As I mentioned earlier, we have a new student in our class!" Ms. April continued. Everyone looked shocked. Apparently they didn't remember at all.

Two of the boys on the right side of the class turned to each other. The one with brown hair said, "Is it a guy? Or girl?" The other guy, one with spiky red-brown hair, shrugged.

Two of the girls on the other side of the room seemed to be having a very similar conversation. "Is the new student cute? Cool? Or do they look like a celebrity?" said a brown haired girl. Before the other girl, the blonde, could reply, Ms April continued.

"Okay, that's enough!" she said. "You can see for yourself!" She gestured to me with a smile and I walked through the center aisle up to the front of the room.

"Our new friend came to the Almia region to learn how to be a Ranger," Ms April continued. She turned to me. "You should introduce your self to the class."

I turned to face everyone. "My name is Sparkette," I said. "I'm from Fiore."

Ms. April smiled. "Be sure to make Sparkette feel welcome here. She passed the entrance exam with flying colors you know." She paused, looking at her class. "Why the big grin, Keith?"

I followed her gaze to see the boy with spiky hair. I assumed this was Keith. He certainly did have a huge grin on his face. It was actually creeping me out a little.

"Anyway," Ms. April continued. "Sparkette, please take the seat next to Keith." Oh, great! I was going to get to spend my time here sitting next to an idiot! I nodded, and walked over to the only empty desk in the room, the one next to Keith.

"Okay, that should do!" Ms. April said. "Let's all work hard together to achieve our dreams of being Rangers, Operators and Mechanics!"

"YEAH!" everyone, including me this time, cried.

"Okay, I'll change the class schedule for today and make this a free study period," Ms April turned to the blonde sitting across the aisle from me. "Rhythmi, can I get you to show Sparkette around the school?"

"I sure will!" Rhythmi replied. Ms. April left the room. All of the students gathered around me.

"Why did you come to school late?" a female student asked.

"What was it like in Fiore?" said a male.

"Do you like Almia so far?" another girl said.

Ah, too many questions! I think everyone in the room had a question. They all went silent when Keith dropped a giant book onto my desk, causing me to flinch.

"Hey, new kid," he scoffed. "I forgot your name, but how long did it take you to capture Pikachu? Like an hour?"

I opened my mouth to complain, but Rhythmi interrupted me. "Don't pay any attention to Keith, he's just a big show off," she said with a smile. "Pay attention to me instead. I'm not learning to be a Ranger, I want to become a Operator. So when Keith becomes a Ranger, I get to boss him around!"

"Really?" I asked, skeptically.

"No, I was just kidding," Rhythmi smiled. "Let's start our tour with our own classroom. You've already meet our teacher, Ms. April. She is really nice, but if you make her mad…" She shuddered. "Look out." I was pretty sure I didn't want to know what she did to the students, and I was not about to find out. "There is another class next door, with a man named Mr. Kincaid as their teacher. He is very uptight and 'No running in the hallways!' is his pet saying. Let's go check out his classroom!"

Rhythmi lead me out of the room and across the hall. When we walked into his room, Mr. Kincaid was in the middle of teaching a lesson. Pretty much as soon as we stepped into the room he was glaring at us.

"Sorry to disturb you!" Rhythmi said. "I'm giving Sparkette a tour of the school. She just started here today." She turned to me. "This is Mr. Kincaid. As you can probably see, he uses a lot of hairspray every day." I could smell it, too! The room reeked of scented hair care products. I was surprised the students weren't choking on the scent!

Mr. Kincaid walked up to me, a fake smile plastered on his face. "You must be the new student from the other class!" he said. "There is one rule that I would like you to honor and uphold while you're in school. Don't run in the hallways." Of course. "Oh, there's another rule too." Really? Can't he just leave me alone? I was Ms. April's student, I did not want to be lectured by Mr. Kincaid. Well, at least it felt like a lecture coming from him. "Don't cast suspicion on others without proof. These two rules are truly important."

"Thank you for the advice," I said. "Sorry to disturb your class."

Mr. Kincaid was still smiling at me with obviously fake smile. He somehow managed to glare at me while smiling. I did not even know that was possible. "It's no problem," he said. "Come back anytime. Provided we aren't in the middle of class, of course."

Finally, no more lectures! Rhythmi and I walked out of his classroom and continued through the building.

"So, where are we going next, Rhythmi?" I asked.

"The library," She replied. "Otherwise known as Keith's nap room." I snickered. Somehow that did not surprise me at all. "It's right over here." She lead me to a door on the left of some staircases and we headed inside.

"In case you were wondering, the boy in the back of the room is Isaac," Rhythmi said. "He's awesomely smart. You can usually find him right here in the library. Sometimes he goes off somewhere, though." She sounded slightly disappointed with her last sentence.

A green haired boy walked up to me. "Hi!" he said, cheerfully. "Do you think I'd make a good Ranger?"

"Um, I don't even know your name," I replied. "so I don't think I would be the best judge of that."

The boy sighed. "I don't think I'm cut out for it," he said. "That's what I've been thinking… I'm Ponte, by the way. I'm the Ranger School's conflicted marshmallow boy."

"I'm Sparkette," I replied. "It's nice to meet you!" Ponte grinned at me, and I smiled. I started to walk toward the back of the room where Isaac was standing, but Rhythmi grabbed my arm, stopping me. I turned to her.

"Um, let's move on to the staff room," she said. Her face was pink. "We shouldn't disturb Isaac. He's probably studying for something."

Before I could say anything, Rhythmi dragged me out of the library and across the hall into another room. When we headed in, we found Ms. April and a man I didn't know.

"This may be called the staff room, but usually only our Principal is in here." Rhythmi said. Her blushing had died down. "So it's more like his office. Our principal is Mr. Lamont. His eyes are always twinkling behind his glasses. I like him a lot."

"Can we move on?" I asked. "I think I'm done with teachers after meeting Mr. Kincaid." Rhythmi giggled, then nodded.

We exited the staff room and walked over to the staircase. I started to walk down the stairs, but Rhythmi stopped me.

"Mr. Kincaid's lab is downstairs," she said. "but we can't go down without permission…"

"The basement is his lab?" I asked. Rhythmi nodded. "Okay, maybe we shouldn't go down. Are we allowed upstairs?" Rhythmi nodded again, and we walked up the staircase.

"Our dorms are on the second floor," Rhythmi explained. "This is where we bunk down, co-ed style!" I must have looked shocked, because Rhythmi giggled. "Not in the same rooms, of course! The boys' bedroom is on the right and the girls' on the left."

"Oh, you must be the new student!" a lady called. I nodded, walking up to her. "I'm Janice," she said, smiling. "I'm the caretaker at the school. It's nice to meet you!"

I was about to reply, but I was interrupted by the ringing of the school bell.

"The bell means we can go outside!" Rhythmi said, excited. "Let's go!" We ran out of the school, (take that, Mr. Kincaid!) and stepped onto the school grounds.

"That's the training room," Rhythmi said, gesturing to the shack. "The teachers there will help you learn how to catch Pokemon and do target clears. However, seeing as you passed the entrance exam, you don't need that." Good. I'm not quite sure I wanted to see Mr. Kaplan agian.

"Oh dear, Oh dear!" A woman cried. "Help, someone, anyone!"

"That sounded like Janice!" Rhythmi said.

"Let's go see what's wrong!" I said. When we rushed over, we discovered that Janice was having trouble with all of the Bidoof.

"Sparkette, capture them!" Rhythmi said. "That's the only thing we can do!"

"Okay!" I readied the school styler.

"Heh, I was wondering what the ruckus was all about," a boy's voice said. Rhythmi and I turned in shock to see Keith leaning against the walls of the Ranger School. "Looks like a good time that's up for grabs!"

"Keith!" Rhythmi yelled at him. "Don't just stand there! Help Sparkette capture all these Bidoof!"

"I don't need help," I murmured. "Especially not from him."

"It won't be much fun if I just helped," Keith replied, leaping off the wall and walking over to us. "Hey new kid! I still don't remember your name, but I challenge you! We will have a capture race to see who catches the most Bidoof."

"Can't you make the effort to learn our new friend's name?" Rhythmi said.

"It's fine, Rhythmi," I said, stepping in front of her, styler in hand. "I accept your challenge, Keith."

Keith grinned. He pulled out his styler. "Okay, let's get on with it!" he said. "Three, Two, One, GO!"

The two of us started running around the yard catching all of the Bidoof. It wasn't too hard, but it was annoying. Why were there so many Bidoof at this school? What on earth do we need them all for? When Keith and I had finally caught all the Bidoof, we lined them up in the center.

Even though he was probably one of the most arrogant people on the earth, Keith was definitely a good Ranger. In the time it took me to catch four Bidoof, he had managed to catch five.

"Ha!" Keith said. "Looks like I win!" He did a backflip in the air and held up his styler. This was probably his Ranger Pose.

"Thank you all for this," Janice said. "It's such a relief! And to the leader Bidoof, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to tread on your tail. Come along, everyone!" All of the Bidoof cried out and followed Janice back into the school.

Keith turned to me. "I'd rate your captures about a sixty five out of one hundred," he said. I glared at him. "Hey… I'll be honest. I was pretty surprised by how you did. You might be decent for someone who just learned about this."

I didn't know what to say. Was that supposed to be a compliment or an insult? I honestly couldn't tell. "Umm, thanks, Keith, I guess."

There was a long pause.

"You said your name is Sparkette, right?" he said.

"Oh, Keith!" Rhythmi exclaimed. "You knew her name all along!" She turned back to me. "There's still another place I have to show you, Sparkette."

"If you're going to Ascension Square, can I come?" Keith asked.

Rhythmi sighed. "Fine, just don't be too annoying."

The three of us walked down the path and made a left where we found a staircase. We walked down it to clearing with a giant statue in the middle.

"Is this Ascension Square?" I asked.

"Yep!" Rhythmi replied. "The giant statue is called the pledge stone."

We all walked up to the stone. "If you make a pledge here with your friends it is said that it is sure to come true. And with that, our tour of the school is over!" Rhythmi said.

"Thanks, Rhythmi!" I said.

She smiled at me. "I'm glad to have meet you, Sparkette. I hope we can be friends for a long time!"

Keith ran up to me as well, shoving Rhythmi aside. "Hey, don't worry about Rhythmi! We should be friends."

I stared at Keith for a long time. Eventually, I burst out laughing. Keith stared at me. "Keith, you are such a boy. Of course I'll be your friend!"

Keith adjusted his uniform as though he were thinking: I hope I'm a boy!

Suddenly the bell rang. "We better get back to class," Rhythmi said. "And Keith, did you seriously just do that?" Keith grinned. Rhythmi sighed. "Fine, let's just go."

Later that day, in the dorm rooms after school, I wrote a letter to my little sister.

Dear Lily,

I got into Ranger school! Classes are great. I really miss you though! I hope to see you soon!

Sparkette.

Good enough for the first night. I folded up the letter and shoved it into my pocket. I would mail it in the morning.

"Hey, Sparkette!" Rhythmi called from the door. "Come with me!"

I hesitated, then followed her out the door into the common room. Keith was there waiting for us, along with a few other students from my class. "Rhythmi, what's going on?" I asked.

"You'll see," she replied. "Nothing bad, I promise."

We walked over to Keith. "Thanks for waiting." Rhythmi said.

Keith looked really mad. "Yeah, you kept us waiting for a while, Rhythmi!"

Rhythmi completely ignored this comment. "Okay, let's get started with our test of courage to welcome Sparkette!"

"What?" I exclaimed.

"Keep it down, but yay!" everyone said.

"What is a test of courage?" I asked, a little bit overwhelmed by what was going on.

"We just want you to prove you're brave," Keith said. "It's no big deal, I had to do it too. But you do have the easily spooked look to you. No offence."

"None taken," I said, after smacking him.

"The rules are simple," Rhythmi said after she finished laughing at the surprised look on Keith's face. "All you have to do is find the school stylers that the four of us hid all over the school and bring them to the basement."

"Isn't the basement off limits?" I asked.

"Yes it is, which is why our second rule is that one person has to go with the student taking the challenge," Rhythmi continued. "And the rules state that the person sitting on the challenger's right has to go with you!" She shoved me towards Keith. "So, off you go!"

Keith sighed. "Let's just get this over with, Sparkette," he said. I nodded, and we ran downstairs together. I heard Rhythmi giggle once more before we left.

"So where should we start?" I asked.

"The stylers are in the two classrooms, the library, and the staff room. When we get to each room I will tell you the hint for the room." Keith replied. "And please try to hurry up. The school is creepy at night."

"I'm the one who's scared easily?" I said, smirking. Keith ignored me.

I ran to Ms. April's classroom first, Keith rushing after me. We only paused once to catch a Bidoof in case I needed to break anything for the challenge.

"The clue for our classroom is this," Keith said. "What wasn't here during the daytime? And hurry up! Even our classroom is creepy." Not really. Okay, maybe a little bit. But I would never tell Keith that I was scared.

I knew I would have to break something! I decided to start by breaking the back of the room with the box right next to Ms. April's desk. I was glad I did because that was the box the styler was in. I picked it up and we went to the next room, Mr. Kincaid's.

"No hint for this room, just hurry up and find it!" Keith said when we entered the room.

"Okay, fine, no need to be pushy," I said. The styler in this room was hidden in plain sight on the shelves in the back of the room. After picking it up Keith and I continued to the Library. On the way I caught another Bidoof.

"The library is scary at night, too," Keith said. "Feels like someone is lurking. Get on with finding that styler. I wanna get out of here." Was everything scary to this guy?

I used the Bidoof I caught to break a box that was blocking my path. There were more boxes blocking our way after that. I had to catch another Bidoof to break it. The styler was sitting on top of a bookshelf. I had to stand on one of the chairs to reach it. When I grabbed it, Keith and I went to the staff room.

"The hint here is the styler doesn't stay still," Keith said. "Hurry up so we can get this over with."

I figured out pretty quickly that the Pichu in the back of the room had the last styler. All I had to do to get it was capture the Pichu and take it from him. "I got them all, Keith! Now what?" I said.

"Now we go to the basement and put them in front of the door there," Keith replied.

"Okay, let's go!" I said. We ran out of the staff room and down the stairs to the basement. There were a few boxes blocking our path, so it took a little bit longer than I had hoped.

"Hey, Sparkette," Keith said, as another Bidoof broke a box. "Do you believe in ghosts?" Well that came out of nowhere!

"Ghost people? No," I replied. "Ghost type Pokemon? I hate them. So much."

"Me too," Keith admitted. "But don't you dare tell anyone." I smiled, and nodded. Suddenly we heard a strange noise.

"Sparkette?" Keith said, his voice shaky. "Did you hear that?"

"Yeah, what could it be?" I replied, not really worried at all. It was probably a Bidoof or something. At least, I hoped it was. I hated to admit it, but Keith was right. The school was creepy at night. We continued to the door.

"Place them here," Keith said when we stopped by the door. I went to my pocket to pull out the stylers, but I stopped when I heard the strange noise again.

"Keith?" I said, slightly freaked out now. Okay, very freaked out now. "Was that you?"

"No…" he said, trembling. Suddenly, four Gastly appeared in front of us. Both of us jumped in surprise. "Sparkette, do something!" Keith screamed.

"Can't you do something?" I exclaimed.

"You have my styler!" Keith said. "So no."

"Fine," I said, readying my styler. "If I have to." I caught them easily, much to Keith's relief. And my relief as well. The Gastly that attacked us ran away. Good. I placed the stylers by the door, which suddenly burst open to reveal Mr. Kincaid.

"WHO'S THERE?" Mr. Kincaid shouted. Keith and I screamed. I honestly didn't know which was worse, the ghosts or the scary teacher. Mr. Kincaid glared at us. "The basement is off-limits to everyone but myself!"

"Oh, shoot!" Keith said. "Run for it!" We ran all the way back to our dorms from the basement. It was then I realised that I left the stylers.

"Keith, I'll be right back," I said as soon as we arrived back at the now empty common room. "I have to get the stylers back."

"Sparkette, are you crazy?" Keith yelled as I started to walk out of the common room. "Mr. Kincaid will kill you if he catches you!"

"Well then,I won't get caught!" I said with a smile as I walked down the rest of the stairs the main hallway. I continued down to the basement and bent down to pick up the fours stylers. Luckily, there weren't any ghost pokemon this time. I stopped short when I heard Mr. Kincaid talking to someone.

"Is something the matter, sir?" a male voice said.

"No it's nothing." Mr. Kincaid replied. "Just a Zubat causing minor disturbance. Incidentally, was the experiment a success?"

"It's impossible to say," the other voice said. It sounded a lot younger than Mr. Kincaid's voice. It might have been a student. "The control system isn't complete. But it is only a matter of adjustment now."

Mr. Kincaid sighed. "Isaac," he said. What? Isaac? "I'm counting you to succeed. Having said that, it is late. Let's call it a night on our research. No need for insufficient amounts of sleep tonight."

"Okay." Isaac replied. "I'll go back to my dorm, then. Good night Mr. Kincaid!"

Back to his dorm? Oh no! I grabbed the stylers and ran all the way back to the girl's dormitory before Isaac left the basement.

So Keith totally loves Sparkette! I love these characters sooooo much XD

Have you noticed any changes yet? If you have, I salute you, good sir/ma'am!