Have you ever had a moment in time when you've felt anxious about something routine? Like, you've done something a million times but then, one day, something just feels different, and you don't know what? That's probably the best way to explain what I was feeling right now. I, Sloane Jackson, was returning to the place I had been raised just to rest up a little from my journey. The Ecruteak Temple was good for that. Plus, the other girls always enjoyed meeting my Pokemon and hearing the tales of my journey. I think the part they enjoy about it most of all, however, is that I finally found my calling, since we all knew being a Kimono Girl was not it.

Nevertheless, today, something was different. Was Lady Sun going to visit today? Surely not since, as the head Kimono Girl, she was always busy, and Lady Ignus would have surely alerted me when I contacted her about my arrival. Then what could it be? Maybe I was just getting last minute jitters about returning. That hadn't happened in a long time, but on my first few trips back I had been nervous that the Kimono Girls would force me back into service. I doubted that was it either, so then what was it?

The autumn leaves crunched beneath my feet as I walked through the ancient city. As Excalibur trotted at my side, I could hear the chiming of bells on the wind and a wave of peacefulness washed over me. I realized I was being irrational. This feeling of anxiety was just a culmination of my worries in the past and nothing before. I took a deep breath and sighed, allowing my anxiousness to settle before I continued forward. Yes, I was just being irrational was all. I had begun to settle into that feeling right as I reached the temple. There I took note of something unusual.

See, while worshippers visited the temple quite often to ask for prayer or praise, they usually entered via the grandiose entrance on the other side of the building. This was a side entrance for Kimono Girl usage only, so seeing a young woman about my age standing at the door NOT dressed in kimono wear was definitely unexpected. I observed her carefully as I drew closer and a few things immediately stood out to me. First off, she appeared to be wearing a Pokemon ranger uniform, specifically the uniform from the Almia region. In addition, she had a styler mounted to a launcher on her right wrist, while she had the styler controller in a holster on her left thigh. It seemed she was left handed, given that the current styler had the launcher based on the non-dominant hand, but the styler holster on the dominant hand's side. Second, her hair was a golden blonde bob cut and she was wearing a red head band. Her eyes were brown like mine and our skin colors were pretty much a perfect match. She also appeared about my height, but judging from her muscles she was in much better shape than I. Third, the Pokemon I presumed to be her partner, a shiny Jolteon, was currently asleep on the ground next to her. Lastly, she was leaned against the wall next to the side door, her feet crossed in front of her. She was tapping the tow of her right boot immediately into the ground as she waited for someone or something to show up. She was also currently busying herself looking into what I guessed was the Ranger equivalent of a pokedex. Through the translucent screen I could see she was reading some P-Mail but I couldn't make out the words for the obvious reason of the dexes were programmed to prevent that. Almost as soon as I finished my observation, she took notice of me. She closed her Rangerdex and slid it into a holster on her right hip. It seemed I was the person she intended to see. The ranger approached me with a certain determination that caused me to stop and just let her come to me. She stopped in front of me and held out her hand.

"Hi, my name is Luciana Thompson, but I just go by Lantern. You're Sloane Jackson, correct?" I shook Lantern's head and nodded my head.

"Yes ma'am, that would be me. How are you today?" Lantern didn't seem to have any serious business to deliver to me given the air about her. She seemed more nervous than anything else. I figured casual conversation might ease her a bit.

"I'm doing well, thanks for asking. And you?" Props to Lantern for using the correct term there.

"I can't complain. Just got back from a trip to the Fiore region. That's not too far from Almia, right?" This seemed to catch Lantern off guard.

"Yes it actually is. Fiore is actually where my partner ranger is currently stationed, just while I take some time off. He was at the Fall City base. How did you know I'd know that?"

"Oh your uniform! It's an Almia ranger uniform, I think. It's been a while since I've had an encounter with a ranger so the uniforms may have changed."

"No, you are actually correct. This particular uniform is an Almia ranger uniform. We actually also have patches as well to tell us apart from base to base. Mine is from the Vientown, the first base in Almia. It's where all the new rangers for the region start out. I act as the second in charge for the base usually."

"Oh, wow, that's pretty cool. I never knew Rangers had such an organized system. Is it like that in the other regions?"

"It's similar but the system varies per region. Fiore has much more bases than any other region so Rangers often get sent to the base closest to their home if they're from Fiore or to the base with the environment closest to where they are from if they're foreigners. Or, if a certain base is requested, these requests are accommodated to the best of the Ranger Guild's abilities. The Oblivia region doesn't have an official ranger base yet but they're still doing just fine over there." Lantern paused then said, "I'm sorry, I'm rambling. How was…" I gave Lantern a confused look as she suddenly stopped and shook her head. "I can't do this," she whispered. Lantern turned and walked to the nearby stone wall that encircled the temple. She sat down on it, her Jolteon partner on her left. I decided to follow and take the seat to her right. I wasn't sure what was wrong but it seemed rude to just leave.

"Hey, what's wrong? You were so jovial a second ago," I asked. Lantern took a deep breath and glanced up at me.

"Why are you so nice? You don't even know me."

"True, but I haven't found a reason to be mean to you yet so there's no point to being a jerk right now." I began to rub her back gently. "You can talk about it if you want or we can just sit here. Whatever you want to do, I'll respect that."

"Wow." Lantern glanced away and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "You're much nicer than I pictured. When I heard you were a dark type specialist… well I kind of picture some sort of gangster or something. I apologize for that." She paused then said, "I should probably explain myself." Lantern took a deep breath. "Let's start from the beginning. Hi, my name is Luciana Thompson, and I'm your half sister."

I swear my head exploded right then. I just kind of stared at Lantern for a minute before letting out a weak,

"What?"

"Uh, yeah. See, eighteen years ago this past March, we were both born. You were born… well I'm guessing here since my research couldn't find your mother, and I was born in Vermillion City. Within a few months, you would be deposited here and I would be taken into custody by Ranger Solstice of the Fiore region. However, records show that on the fateful day both of us were born, we had one thing in common, our father."

"You found my father?" I interrupted immediately. Ever since my childhood I had wanted to know my parents. It was part of the reason I started my journey. I had always held out hope I would find one or both of them. So far I had obviously had no luck. Given the way Lantern's face fell, I could tell she had had little success either.

"No… see the records just indicate he had rejected custody. The only reason I know we're siblings is because the hospital records connected us. I can tell you who your mother was though." I felt my heart stop for a second in jubilee until the wording of the sentence set in.

"She's dead?" Lantern looked down and nodded slowly.

"Two months after you were dropped at the kimono temple, your mother died of pneumonia in the hospital. She actually left something to you, but since, at the time, no one knew where her only child was, they could not deliver it to you. I found it only fair that your birthright be given to you after eighteen years, just as mine was recently delivered to me." Lantern reached down to her belt and it was then I noticed something unusual. She was wearing a pokeball belt with only one ball on it. It was common knowledge that it was against Ranger Code to have such things unless jobs required it. She pulled the pokeball off the belt and held it out to me. "This was your mother's partner. His name is Asch the Mightyena. He's been in there a long time so I don't know how he'll react to finally emerging once again, but I thought-" I didn't let Lantern finish. I pulled Lantern into a tight hug and squeezed her tightly.

"Thank you," I whispered. You have no idea how much this means to me."

And that was the day I received the most expected of surprises that I never knew I really needed, but had always really wanted.