If I Could Reach You

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Summary: She was clumsy, airheaded, useless and unworthy of becoming a ranger; but then why couldn't he stop caring about her? That reckless, carefree, selfless idiot.

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Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me except the general storyline.

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Categories: Romance, Friendship, Adventure, Drama, Humor

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A/N: I just want you lovely readers to keep in mind that I am not American. I am Australian and so, I usually use the British spelling of words such as humor (humour), color (colour), gray (grey), cozy (cosy), etc… I know majority of readers will be American so I have adapted my spelling to be more suitable for that audience. I'd be pleased if anyone could help me correct any words that aren't using the American spelling.

Even though this game is almost ten years old, I have so many childhood memories involving this game. It was my very first spin-off Pokémon game too. My excuse is that this game is almost a decade old so that's why I'm writing a fanfic about it. :P

That's all for now, enjoy~

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LucidClockwork

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Chapter 1

Kellyn heard the sliding doors, a sharp inhale, a grunt, and a crash before he knew just what he was setting himself up for in his (originally) planned comfortable year.

He was Kellyn Hajime. The honor student of class A of Almia's ranger school favored quiet solitude over companion time, grades over a social life. The only person he ever allowed into his personal bubble was Keith Dazzle. Even he himself didn't know why he didn't feel discontent in the presence of one that embodied every personality trait Kellyn strived to avoid.

It was mid-February when Ms April announced that there would be a transfer student in Class A. The class broke into hushed voices and delighted giggles. Keith leaned over Kellyn's desk, ignoring his friend's exasperation, and kicking at the legs of his table.

"Do you think he'll be aiming to be a ranger like us?"

Kellyn pried the papers from under Keith's body. "How are you so sure it'll be a guy?"

"Because girls have a lower chance of getting in than guys,"

"That's sexist Keith, and what if it is a guy but they want to be an operator?"

Keith pouted. "Can you be an optimist for once Hajime?"

"I'm being a realist, get off my desk Keith. I don't care about whoever it's going to be."

Keith huffed but complied either way, instead opting to lean on his chair dangerously. The rest of the class halted the chatter when the door slid open and a petite girl with spiky pigtails stepped into the room…

…Only to lose her balance and face-plant.

The room sat in stunned silence before a single student guffawed and the student body fell into gut-wrenching laughter. Kellyn only scowled, a frown marring his forehead. The girl sat up, rubbing her head sheepishly as Ms April helped her to the front of the room.

"Our new friend came alone to our Almia region to become a Pokémon ranger. Why don't you introduce yourself to the class?" Ms April gestured to the class.

"Well," the girl began, her grin almost mirroring Keith's. "My name is Kate Hitomi, I'm aspiring to be a Pokémon Ranger and I hope to get to know you all!"

Ms April was pleased, she nodded before snapping her attention back to the class, "Let's all make Kate feel welcome. I understand that she scored quite well in the entrance exam… What is it Keith?"

Keith shook his head but balanced the legs of his chair dangerously. He leaned his body eagerly, clearly ignoring the disapproving looks Ms April shot at him.

"Why the big grin?" She paused before giving a sideways glance to the new transfer student. "Anyway, we better get you seated somewhere, Kate. The seat next to Kellyn is free."

In an instant, Kate's eyes scanned the room and searched for the one named Kellyn. Those brilliant blue eyes swept over the classroom and Kellyn only wished that he hadn't sucked in a sharp breath. Worst of all was the irritating buzzing in his ears when her gaze fell on him for a split second and the tingling in his fingertips as he attempted to drum away the feeling on his desk.

Ms April seemed notice his internal dilemma (albeit Kellyn hoped she didn't realize just what exactly was making him feel all tingly) as she clapped her hands together in realization. "Oh yes that's right! Kellyn is the brown-haired boy on your left."

Kate slumped into the chair next to Kellyn who still could not force the unpleasant cadence in his stomach down. The sheets and handouts spread out on his desk lay forgotten as Kellyn fell out of his usual focus, instead trying to calm himself down.

"Okay that will do. That's it for treating you like a new transfer student. From now on, you're all my students, people who I can take pride in teaching." Ms April continued her speech but Kellyn was no longer listening.

"…Kellyn?" It was Kate, why she was even bothering to talk to Kellyn was beyond him.

"What?" he snapped in a small whisper, widening his eyes when realizing just how irritable he felt at the moment; for no reason either.

She seemed unfazed however and pointed to his fingers, "The tapping is a little off beat, it's putting me off."

Kellyn only bore holes into her skull, unsure of how to express his surprise. "…Sorry?"

Kate giggled airily. "It's putting off my focus, so try sticking to a pattern."

"Isn't all sorts of tapping annoying?" Kellyn sneered, he hadn't even noticed what he was doing unconsciously.

"Maybe," she shrugged. "I can work under any conditions as long as it doesn't keep rapidly changing."

"… You're a weird person Hitomi."

As she was about to reply, Ms April patted her shoulder lightly. Kate yelped in surprise, toppling over her chair and landing on the floor. The class chuckled and even Ms April smiled in amusement.

"Before I go, Kate, I need to explain something to you. It's about the school styler you were provided before the entrance exam."

Kate nodded dreamily, still dazed from her earlier surprise. Further discussion of the school stylers had her nodding in concentration, sucking in the information Ms April was presenting her. She then turned to the rest of the class.

"Everyone, you should all be paying attention to this as a review-… Keith! Don't yawn with your mouth wide open like that." With the exception of Kellyn, the class once again broke into light, melodious laughter until dying down with Keith's irritable glares.

After explaining the functions of the school stylers, the limitations, and the features; Ms April turned to the girl behind her with curly, pale blonde hair Kellyn never bothered to learn the name of. "Rhythmi, can I get you to show Kate around the school, please?"

"I sure will!" The girl was much too enthusiastic for Kellyn's liking.

"I'll be in the Staff Room. I'll leave you to it." Ms April said before leaving the classroom.

As soon as the wheels of the sliding door rolled shut, Kate was bombarded with students gathering around her curiously. Kellyn in particular, who sat right next to her felt a tick grow when Keith practically leapt over his table to join his peers, scattering his papers everywhere.

"Hey, new kid," That damned redhead radiated confidence. "I forgot your name, but long did it take you to capture Pikachu? Like an hour?"

"Keith," Kellyn growled.

"Kellyn," he imitated.

It really seemed like the other boy really did have a death wish and absolutely no survival instincts.

"Get off my desk," Kellyn hissed, a very clear warning in his tone of voice.

Now either Keith was the dumbest, densest person alive or he was choosing to not heed his warning to show some backbone. Kellyn didn't care about either possibility, instead flipping the table (with Keith still on it, mind you) and watching with smug satisfaction as Keith toppled to the floor. Kellyn shoved him lightly to the side with his foot before setting down his desk once again.

The class guffawed and giggled, Rhythmi gazed strangely at Kate. "Aren't you even a little bit surprised Kate?"

She smiled absentmindedly. "Should I be worried? They look like good friends," Kate glanced down at Keith, grinning. "Anyway, about your question. I took-."

Rhythmi waved her hands vigorously. "Keith's just a show-off. You're better off ignoring him."

"It's fine Rhythmi," There was that doe-eyed smile again. "I took 4.2 seconds to capture the pikachu."

Everyone gasped and sighed in awe. "Woah! That's almost as good as Kellyn!"

"And he got 3.7 seconds!"

"That's freaking amazing!"

His mouth dropped, stupefied before quickly clamping shut when her head turned. Goddammit, now her attention was on him and Kellyn couldn't suppress the sudden self-consciousness he felt from her stare, "You'll be an amazing ranger someday."

"Ha…" Kellyn shifted awkwardly in his seat, unsure of how to reply.

Luckily the blonde girl cut into the conversation, turning Kate's attention on her. "Anyway, your attention should be on me instead of those two guys," She pointed at both Kellyn and Keith, who still lay in a dishevelled heap on the floor. "I'm not here to become a Ranger. I want to become an Operator instead."

Kate nodded, urging her on. "So when Keith becomes a Ranger, I can order him around like my servant!"

There was a muffled indignant whine from the floor, silenced by Kellyn's palm on his head, "Just joking!"

The class burst into laughter once more.

Rhythmi dusted her palms and said in aa excited voice, "All right, let me take you a tour of the Ranger School. Let's begin with our own classroom."

As Rhythmi explained the school to Kate, Kellyn could help but rub his sweaty palms against his jeans. He laid out his handouts and sheets back on his desk.

Just because there was a new transfer student, just because he was slightly intrigued about the new girl, Kellyn wasn't about to neglect his private studying and his dream of becoming a Pokémon Ranger.

When he heard the fading footsteps of the blonde girl and Kate, he decided that Kate was a distraction. She seemed to be a total airhead, clumsy and completely indifferent to becoming a ranger. Not only that but whenever she was around, he fell into a pile of goo at her feet.

Yep, she was definitely useless and unworthy of becoming a ranger.

…(x)…

After the school bell rang, indicating the end of the period, Kellyn and Keith were the last two students left in the classroom. Keith was idly fiddling with a Chinese finger trap he'd found in his desk whilst Kellyn jotted down a few noteworthy bullet-points into his notebook from the textbook.

The silence was comfortable, not awkward as many might've thought. It took around ten minutes for Kellyn to finish, putting away the textbook onto one of the shelves and reorganizing his notes.

"You done yet?" Keith asked.

"Yeah…" Kellyn drawled.

Keith hopped off his desk, placing a hand on Kellyn's shoulder. "Hey... let's go outside."

"Instead of the dorms? Why?"

Keith shrugged. "I'm guessing Kate and Rhythmi are still touring the school, they're probably still outside."

Kellyn shrugged off his hand and scrunched his nose up in disgust. "I barely know them, you go yourself."

"I'm forcing you to come with me Kellyn."

At moments like these, Kellyn hated that Keith was a few inches taller than him. He clearly couldn't intimidate Keith to take back the offer. "Fine, sure, whatever."

After leaving the main building, Keith and Kellyn were greeted with a horde of Bidoof running amok, Janice stood in the center of the school grounds looking panic-stricken and clueless.

"Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!" She shouted in desperation. "Help, someone! Anyone! Catch the Bidoof for me!"

There was a shriek from the direction of the training room, forcing both boys to snap their attention from the Bidoof to the two people standing at the entrance of the training room.

"J-Janice?!" Rhythmi screamed, she turned towards Kate who somehow looked ordinarily calm and unsurprised. "She's having trouble with the Bidoof!"

Kate glanced out to the field of scurrying Bidoof. "Please, Kate! Capture the Bidoof and get them to settle down!'

From beside Kellyn, Keith seemed almost excited. Kellyn groaned, trying to grab at the fabric at his friend's back before he took off albeit to no heed. He'd already taken off and began chasing the Bidoof.

"Oh god, Keith no-,"

"Heh, I was wondering what the ruckus was all about." Keith was shouting, grabbing the attention of both Rhythmi and Kate, "Looks like a good time that's up for grabs!"

Kellyn had run over to the girls, panting and catching his breath.

Rhythmi, her voice panicky said, "Kellyn! You help with the captures too!"

He inhaled sharply, turning to Kate, "Look, knowing Keith. He's probably challenging both of us to capture as many Bidoof as we can." Kellyn suddenly remembered the fact that Kate almost beat him in the entrance exam and bitterness surfaced on his face, hidden but still there. "Try not to fall over again now."

Kate stared at him blankly, ignoring his latter comment, "That sounds like fun."

"Wha-…"

"We're having a capture race! You, Kellyn and I!" Keith shouted, attempting to tackle a Bidoof that scampered away from him.

Kate had already begun running after the Bidoof much like Keith was, except with more agility and less noise.

Kellyn groaned, before taking off as well, "What a pain…"

From behind him, he could faintly hear Rhythmi muttering, 'You can be so annoying Keith!' before he completely turned his focus to the escaping Bidoof.

"Capture on!"

…(x)…

In the end, all the Bidoof were captured within a few minutes. Rhythmi sighed in relief.

"That's all the Bidoof now."

From beside Rhythmi, Keith was huddled into a small ball at the feet of the Bidoof. He rocked back and forth, speaking in hushed tones as if he was muttering a mantra to exorcise a demon.

"I caught one Bidoof and I had a head start too… In fact my head start gave me half the time it took for everyone to capture the Bidoof together. I'm pathetic. I lost. Both Kellyn and the new kid beat me, they got four each. I'm a worthless excuse of a ranger-…"

"Goddammit Keith," Kellyn hissed, grabbing his friend's collar and placing him on his feet. "It was just a silly race. You suggested it too!"

Keith fell back down to ground-level, "Because I thought I could beat both of you guys."

"Oh my god Keith, get over it!"

"It was fun and that's what matters," Kate said thoughtfully, crouching down to the ground and patting Keith soothingly on the back.

"You're so much nicer than Hajime-…"

"Shut it Dazzle."

Janice laughed, awkwardly clearing her throat, "You looked good at it, Keith!" She glanced over to Kate, who was still rubbing circles on Keith's back, "Of course, I also need to thank our new friend and Rhythmi and Kellyn, too."

She bowed low, "Thank you for this. This is a big relief for me."

Janice and her nine Bidoof soon left, leaving the four students standing in the center of the field. Keith was no longer sulking and Kellyn gazed uninterestedly to the surrounding fields. Now that adrenaline had worn off, he could clearly feel the pounding off his heart against his chest and the foreign, discontent feeling was bothering him.

"Kellyn you were amazing as always," Keith groaned. "Seriously, I'll catch up to you one day."

He then turned to Kate, "I'd rate your captures around 65 out of 100," he awkwardly kicked the dirt at his feet. "…Hey, but you know… I'll be honest: I was pretty surprised by how you did. You might be decent for someone who just learned about this."

Kellyn silently agreed.

"You said your name was Kate, right?"

Rhythmi cut in, laughing, "Oh, you, Keith! You knew Kate's name all along! For goodness' sake… You're acting like some guy that just confessed his feelings to Kate!"

Keith's face glowed, "I do not!" he cried indignantly.

If this was any other day, Kellyn would be joining in with the blonde girl just to see his friend's undignified reaction but unbecoming feelings at the pit of his stomach that had been bothering him for a while poked and prodded at his usual attitude. This time however, the feelings were sharper and painful. He felt like he was… Angry…?

Rhythmi's face lit up, her clenched palm smacking her open one, "That's right! There's somewhere I haven't shown you yet!"

For some reason, Kellyn's voice came out croakier than intended. "You mean Ascension Square?" he asked.

"Yes!"

"Then we'll go too." Keith cut in, grabbing Kellyn's arm as if he intended to escape albeit for no reason, Kellyn felt content to go with everyone (despite the fact that he was only ever comfortable with a single person).

"Oh, all right. I guess we'll let you guys come with us."

"It's like we're all going as friends," said Kate, once again, her voice seemed unfocused and faraway.

"This is Ascension Square." Rhythmi said as they hopped off the last step of a particularly long stone staircase. The four of them gathered in front of the stone as Kate leaned down to read the inscription, mildly interested.

"Next month, there's going to be a special class here. It's the Outdoor Class." Rhythmi continued, "That monument there is called the Pledge Stone."

The Pledge Stone was a single block plateau with stairs carved from the same stone. A single inscription was carved on the flat plateau at the feet of the central structure, made of four curvy obelisks holding up a large capture disk.

"If you make a pledge to each other with your friends here, it will surely come true…" Rhythmi said, flexing her fingers. "That's what Principal Lamont told me."

"A pledge huh?" Kate mumbled.

"And there you have it! That concludes Rhythmi's School Tour of Wonder and Excitement!"

"It wasn't that wonderful-… Ow! Rhythmi! What was that for?"

"Shut up Keith please."

Kate laughed so hard that her styler slipped out of her pouch, bounced on the smooth stone and off the plateau on the grass.

"I'll get that,"

"Kate!" Rhythmi smiled widely as Kate reached for the styler, "I'm glad to have met you! I hope we can be friends for a long time!"

"Likewise," Kate replied, finally grasping her styler.

"Don't be friends with Rhythmi," Keith interjected. "Be friends with me, okay?"

The moment Kellyn opened his mouth to speak, a chime rang out over the fields, inviting the four students back to the main building. Keith sighed irritably.

"Oh," said Rhythmi. "There goes the bell."

"We'd better get back to class," Keith groaned.

Both Rhythmi and Keith strode back to class. It wasn't until Keith reached the top of the stairs did he realise that Kate and Kellyn weren't trailing behind him. Kate was still laying on top of the pledge stone, idly kicking her feet and Kellyn was watching her stonily. Keith probably thought it was odd, because he ran back down the stairs to remind them both to come back with them.

"We'll be there in a moment," Kellyn called as Keith took his tenth step down.

Keith paused, staring at his friend suspiciously, "Sure but you have five minutes until Ms April comes back." He hurried back up the stairs to join Rhythmi at the main building.

It wasn't until his footsteps fully faded did Kellyn speak, "…Why did you ask me to stay back?"

Kate gazed at him dreamily, it was like he wasn't even there. "You seem to act differently to me than everyone else."

She was observant, "So what?" Kellyn snapped.

Kate wasn't perturbed by his rude tone, she inquired, "We're friends right?"

If she didn't hear the excruciatingly loud thump in his chest then she might've been deaf, "No…" He said slowly.

"Why not?" She asked curiously.

"I don't like you," Kellyn said sharply before he pivoted on his foot and strode up the stairs. He faintly heard her speak, not to him but strangely to the air. When Kellyn finally reached the main building, he huffed in irritation, trying to sooth the dull feeling in his arms.

You're a horrible liar.

Edited: 30.01.2017 (punctuation-fixes, word adaptations to the American dictionary, dialogue improvement, capitalization-fixes)

Edited: 11.02.2017 (minor typo-fixes)

Approximate Word Count: 3600 words

A/N: I haven't written anything in a while to be completely honest. This story is more of a 'clean off your rusty writing skills' type of story. Of course, I will continue my other stories but I'll be focusing more on this story until I feel that I'm happy with my writing. The next chapter might take anywhere between a week and a month to upload. I hope you enjoyed this!