Luana: The Vientown Ranger Who's One Year Ahead of You

One year on the job, and already the old hand. Luana serves at the Vientown Ranger Base, in Almia, in Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia. She burns her toast, drops picnics and refuses to teach classes. Yet she's the one who recognizes a Manaphy Egg, believes a child no one listens to and suggests smashing the machines rather than tending to their victims.

Contents

• Vientown, One Year Ahead on the Job
• Absentmindedness as a Calling Card
• The Vien Forest Fire
• How Ollie Got His Name
• Pueltown and Team Dim Sun's Machines
• What She Figures Out Before Everyone Else
• Luana at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

Vientown, One Year Ahead on the Job

Luana is assigned to the Vientown Ranger Base and works under base leader Barlow. Her seniority amounts to twelve months: she joined the corps a year before the player, which puts her at the only useful distance — close enough to explain everything, too close to be intimidating.

She's the one who comes out to meet the newcomer and escort them to the base, shows them the locker room and reminds them to use the save machine before heading back out. At the same time, she brings up her own first-day jitters, which turns every instruction into a confidence rather than an order.

Her partner is a Buneary, which she introduces to the player with a pride she makes no effort to hide. She also stresses that the job isn't just about missions: the residents' quests matter just as much, and she lets slip that when she started out she was made to deliver newspapers — before catching herself and insisting she had volunteered.

🐰 Luana's partner has its own section: see our Pokémon plushies.

Absentmindedness as a Calling Card

The game doesn't hide her flaws; it puts them front and center. Luana burns her toast often enough that the smell of charring serves as her alarm clock, and the first picnic delivery she made for the Rangers on Breeze Hill got smashed along the way, ruined beyond eating.

The Ranger School has asked her several times to lead an outdoor lesson; she has turned down every request, convinced she doesn't have a teaching bone in her body. It's a sharp contrast with Crawford, who, on the contrary, couldn't wait to see the students again.

She has her rituals, too. A clifftop lookout in Vien Forest is her outlet: she shouts at the view there and invites the others to do the same, on the grounds that it makes you feel better. With her, exuberance and clumsiness are the same thing seen from two angles.

The Vien Forest Fire

The biggest mission of her career starts with a household misunderstanding. Woken by the smell of something burning, Luana first assumes it's forgotten toast; it's Barlow who tells her that what's going up in smoke is Vien Forest, and who sends her there with the player.

In the field, she doesn't give orders; she deals with problems as they come up. She spots little Mimi in the middle of the flames, orders her to go home right away, learns that three of her four Happiny have run off, and promises to comb the forest to bring every one of them back.

From there, progress comes one move at a time: a Wartortle for the first flames, then a Blastoise brought to Crawford because its Field Move is powerful enough to push back the blaze. The forest eventually grows back completely, to the point that Luana recognizes it just as it was before the fire.

How Ollie Got His Name

A man found at the scene reeks of fuel and refuses to give his name. Barlow wants to name him after his smell, insult included; Luana cuts in by suggesting a nickname that keeps the idea of fuel without the rudeness.

The name they settle on is Ollie, and a smile from the man himself counts as his acceptance. The scene sums up her way of doing things: she never contradicts her boss head-on; she offers something else and lets the better option win out on its own.

The smell is eventually explained. Ollie admits he spilled a Gigaremo's fuel, and a spark from the machine started the fire; Luana simply draws the conclusion her nose had reached on day one. Much later, she'll still be around to congratulate him and Elaine as a couple.

Pueltown and Team Dim Sun's Machines

In Pueltown, unknown devices are giving off vibrations that hypnotize Pokémon and make any capture impossible. Luana catches the word "Gigaremo" let slip by a Team Dim Sun grunt and immediately links it to the machines: the threat finally has a name.

Her tactical contribution fits in a single sentence. Instead of wearing themselves out calming the hypnotized Pokémon one by one, she suggests destroying the Gigaremos — tackling the cause rather than the effects, just when the urgency pushes you to do the opposite.

Yet the affair ends badly for the Rangers: the organization's five members escape by sea with the last device, and Brook, who swims after them, comes back safe and sound but without them. Luana admits she's never taken part in such a dangerous mission, and says she's mostly disappointed that they got away.

What She Figures Out Before Everyone Else

When one of Mimi's Happiny starts throwing every round object it can find before disappearing, Luana asks Barlow for permission to help the girl instead of waiting to be assigned the task. The trail leads to Nabiki Beach.

The round object the Pokémon was guarding is a Manaphy Egg, and she's the one who identifies it, thanks to something she read in the school library. Barlow confirms it right away: Professor Hastings had just asked for this Egg to be protected, which turns her initiative into an emergency mission.

Same reflex with Kyle, who claims he can hear a Riolu calling him with Aura Sphere: Crawford dismisses it as a made-up story, but Luana believes him, because a boy that shy has no reason to lie, and she deduces that the Dim Sun members still at large have spotted this rare move. She does, however, forbid him from coming along.

Luana at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Who is Luana in Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia?
  A Pokémon Ranger at the Vientown base, under the orders of base leader Barlow. She joined the corps a year before the player and goes with them on several missions, including the Vien Forest fire.
• What is Luana's partner Pokémon?
  A Buneary, which she introduces to the player herself when they first meet, on Breeze Hill.
• Why is Ollie called Ollie?
  Because he smells of fuel. Barlow wanted to label him by that smell in an insulting way; Luana suggested a nickname instead that keeps the idea of fuel, and the man's smile sealed the deal.
• Is Luana really clumsy?
  The game makes a point of it: she burns her toast, dropped the first picnic she was supposed to deliver on Breeze Hill and turns down the Ranger School's outdoor lessons because she doesn't feel cut out for teaching.
• What role does Luana play in the Manaphy Egg affair?
  She's the one who recognizes the round object Mimi's Happiny was guarding, remembering something she read in the school library. Barlow then turns her personal initiative into an emergency mission.

In short

Luana has no fancy title, no favorite type and no Gym to defend: she has one year on the job and a Buneary. The game uses her to show what an ordinary Ranger looks like — someone who botches her picnic and refuses to teach, then identifies a Manaphy Egg and suggests destroying the machines instead of chasing their effects. Absentmindedness isn't the opposite of good instincts; it's what makes them believable.