Noah ignored the prickling feeling that ran through her body, brushing it off as a sense of excitement rather than one of foreboding. It was probably just a weird temperature dip anyway; everyone else looked like they felt it, as well. Shrugging, she shaped her hands into two circles and looked through them as though they were binoculars. She joined Dirge as he looked around for their missing partner, although it was a little difficult looking for someone shebdidn't know. There weren't that many still without a group, but she couldn't find one that looked like a 'Hao Ryota.' 

"I don't see him either," she said, just as Viva called for everyone's attention. 

Noah turned to Viva to cheer along with everyone else and hurriedly dug into her Aipom backpack for her capture styler, following Viva's instructions. She mimicked the experienced ranger's actions, raising her styler high up enthusiastically. The pledge that came after was a little harder for Noah to follow, but she managed to repeat the most important parts. She grinned widely, suddenly feeling a surge of resolve and zeal. [i]To protect the innocent; people or pokemon.[/i] That was what she came here to do!

She watched in awe, starry-eyed and mouth agape, as all of the rangers' capture stylers began to glow, covering the area with a constellation of light that reminded her of a group of Illumise. Her quick reflexes kicked in when the styler emitted a slight electric shock, and she was throwing her styler up before she realized, but she managed to catch it before it fell to the ground. Noah turned to Dirge then, just as he received their mission from Annemarie. He was pointing at something behind her, seemingly at the hooded boy slowly approaching them.

"Ah, you think that's really Hao?" She waved at the boy excitedly, calling him out. "Over he-"

A shiver ran down her spine, and the prickling feeling from before coursed through her once again, but with ten times the intensity. She was going into a fighting stance before she could comprehend what was happening, digging her feet into the ground and lifting her arms into position. Noah looked like a Zoroark ready to pounce. Her eyes darted this way and that, scanning for whatever danger was looming about.

There was nothing at first, but then she saw it. It started out as a strange distortion, slowly taking solid form until it was completely visible. Driven by instincts, Noah was running toward it before she could even tell what it was. [i]A ghost Pokemon![/i] she realized as she neared it, although she hadn't known what it was called. All she knew was that it evolved from a Duskull. The ghost Pokemon let out a terrifying moan, and she watched in horror as it left a trail of ruin in its wake.

"Hao, get back!" she called out, as she realized it was fast approaching the hooded boy. "Hurry!"

The Pokemon attacked before Hao could react, and it sent him sprawling on the ground. Noah threw herself at the Pokemon with a strangled battle cry, but she had simply gone through. Too startled to roll in time, she landed on her stomach, just across Hao's body. No… Hao's corpse. Noah choked back a sob and tried to move out of the Pokemon's reach, but she was frozen. She couldn't take her eyes off the poor boy across from her. He was going to be in her squad. He didn't even get to go on his first mission.

Noah only realized that the other rangers had taken care of the Pokemon after someone ran up to Hao to give him CPR. [i]He's dead.[/i] She repeated the girl's words. Dead, and she couldn't do anything to save him. She was right there, and she couldn't save him. Didn't she just vow to protect the innocent?! Noah pushed herself up weakly and ran straight to Dirge, tears welling up in her eyes.

"H-Hao, he--" was all she could say before she burst out crying.