Rena ran his hand through his recently-cut hair, stopping his hand to finger the unnaturally straight edges of the hair that fell onto his neck. The young man had tried to look good, but not [i]too[/i] good, having only a pair of jeans and white t-shirt with red salvages on it. He considered wearing a jacket with it but the weather didn’t really call for it. A beautiful season of warmth was upon everyone and yet Rena had barely even stopped to enjoy any of it. For him, the last several weeks have been nothing but work and stress, mostly just preparing for this… adventure? You could call it that, he supposed.

As if to keep him from giving in to the temptation to close his eyes as he stared out the window in his cabin, a strident horn blew and consequently made Rena jump in surprise. He scrambled to get all his belongings back into one pack. It was a bit difficult to organize the gym bag he used to store his less important stuff as the sounds of people getting ready to get off the boat and the waves splashing against the ship distracted him. He’d been on boats like the one they were on but never before had he traveled far on one. The smell of the ocean water was refreshing, yet sickening at the same time. Before bolting off to get to the deck as fast as he could, Rena quickly checked that he had everything on him. The room was a bit of a mess after having pretty much lived it for a little more than a day. All his belongings were packed away in a debatable neat fashion. Rena slid his pale blue backpack onto his shoulder and lurched into the hallway.

As he stepped onto the deck the smell of the maritime air overwhelmed him. There were a lot of people who had gotten sick from being on the boat for so long. Most people felt at least queasy the first time they ride on a boat, the tide and wind rocking the boat until someone vomited. It was like that for Rena too.

“Nature Preserve” was right. The nature behind the concrete ports was breath-taking. It was a thick rainforest that wrapped around a portion of the island, and the glistening ocean water around them was alive with Pokemon. The Wingull and Pelliper flew on the ocean winds above the ship, some of them stopping to perch on the taller parts of the ship. Mantyke and Remoraid jumped out of the water in groups, skipping along the surface. Rena ran over to the railing to look down into the water. He frowned in disappointment as the hazy water the ship swam through refused to show any Pokemon that lived deep below the surface. Although, Rena noticed, the light reflecting off the water was almost blinding. With the pleasantly warm winds brushing past him, Rena closed his eyes as if to keep the image of the beautiful ocean in his mind forever.

Though, his mind was ripped back into reality as a thick blast of water grazed his arm. The rest of the shot hit the rail beside him and splashed a bit more water onto him. Rena turned on his heels and expected to some idiot that decided to mess with some of the other new recruits, but he saw no-one facing him or laughing about what had happened. Rena let out a long sigh. “At least I wasn’t wearing a jacket,” he muttered under his breath.

Flailing his arm a bit to throw some water off of him, Rena watched as the boat linked itself to the port with a set of stairs without rails. He waited until more than half of the people on deck left the boat until he rushed himself down the stairs, nearly falling into the water as he teetered a bit too close to the edge. Some veteran Rangers stepped forward and began to greet the crowd. They began to introduce the Rangers, and why they were here. It all sounded suspiciously similar to the letter they received from the PRA. Rena frowned. The beaches looked rather sparse, lacking any cool Pokemon, like Spheals or something. Scanning the beaches was still more entertaining than listening to what was on the letter again, which he had probably read at least a thousand times. His parents weren’t exactly supportive of his decision but they had let him go after enough protest. Rena shook his head to wipe his mind from those thoughts. It would be lame to be the one that misses home the most. Rena quickly decided that it would be best to pay attention to the explanation the Rangers were giving all of them instead of scanning the beach for a sign of life.

	"So, the vacant bungalows are this way. We'll organize you into squads and then you can put your junk away.” A Ranger wearing what looked like Blaziken cosplay started to speak, ”Oh, and then you're off on your first mission, so hurry up and get your stuff." They began passing out what seemed to be the Pokemon Ranger essentials to the crowd of to-be Rangers. Would they be working with these people?

	The weight of the supplies made Rena squirm with glee. He put his bags onto the ground to stuff most of the items they gave him into his backpack. The only thing he left out though, was the Capture Styler. They said it was deactivated, but should he always carry it with him? Even if it was useless at the moment, Rena slid it into his back pocket and hoisted his bags back onto his shoulders. Making it a habit to carry with him everywhere would start here and now. The group began to work their way into the rainforest before them. Rena cracked his toes as he glanced down at the simple sneakers he wore. A pang of regret ran through him as he began to catch up with the front of the group. Cheers resounded throughout all the to-be Rangers, but Rena resisted the urge to call out in excitement. “We’re all gonna live together, huh?” He pushed his hands into his pockets and felt the material of his jeans.

	[i]”Maybe I should start making friends now,”[/i] Rena thought to himself, [i]”I should’ve done that on the boat though.”[/i] With a useless shrug, Rena looked at everyone present. Pretty much everyone visibly showed excitement for what laid in store for all of them. He closed his eyes again, just for a moment, and felt the exact same feeling he had on the boat. This will certainly be an adventure.