Vanilla Salt

I was at the introductions.

From the minute she walked into the room, I could tell she'd be something special. There was some sort of air around her that made it seem as if she'd be hard to talk to, but… the look in her eyes was gentle, as if having her around would give everything a happy air to it once you got used to her.

She walked to the front of the room with an uneasy air. Everyone was paying attention to her, but I noticed one person who was staring at her a little more intently that was necessary. Keith.

He was looking at her with some sort of determined fire in his eyes, as if it was taking up all of his power not to jump out of his seat. He refused to pull his eyes from the girl's small, lithe figure, her cold, shy demeanor and her blushing red face.

I raised an eyebrow in doubt. Could he actually… like her? From what I had gathered in these thirty seconds, they seemed as if they would be complete opposites… oh, well, maybe I was wrong.

…No, wait, that couldn't be right.

I'm never wrong.

I was at the test of courage.

OK, so I had been right. They were complete opposites. I had led her around the school on a tour, and she'd been revealed to be shy, reclusive, and insecure. Basically, she was hard to get close to. It was a little hard talking to her, but once we got to be friends she seemed to make life a little easier overall. It was this gentle air she had around her… I don't really know how to explain it.

Anyways, she seemed to understand the directions for her night test well enough. Search the school in the dark for Stylers, find all five, and don't get caught. Keith had seemed a little apprehensive at first that he had to go with her for safety, but it didn't look as if it was because he was terrified of ghosts (which he was, by the way). He seemed to be nervous about going with Kate. Sure, she was hard to talk to, but was that any reason to be scared of the girl?

No, no it wasn't. Besides, he'd decided to be her friend at Ascension Square. Which, of course, brought me back to my earlier theory of him liking her.

It actually didn't seem very probable or even possible. Keith was nothing like Kate. He was annoying beyond belief, and very easy to talk to. He was loud and short-tempered… but once you got past all that, he was a sweet guy. If you stuck around him too much, though, you'd either go nuts or explode. Maybe both.

I watched the two go down the stairs, Kate smiling happily to herself and Keith not meeting her eyes, staying silent and fidgeting nervously, his face a fine red color.

I was at the graduation ceremony.

Everything had gone according to plan during my time at Ranger School. I had passed all my Operator tests with flying colors—and I thanked Arceus future Operators didn't have to take gym class. Kate had scored very well on her Ranger exams and she'd managed to make it through physicals OK. Keith had just managed to receive passing marks on his exams, but on the other hand he was top in the school at the physical test. We would all be graduating.

Of course, I had made sure to make room between my studies to keep a close eye on Kate and Keith, and by this time I was sure that Keith was totally crushing on her. It was obvious to everyone in the school but Keith and Kate themselves.

Keith, despite the fact that he always went red faced and stammered around the girl, denied any hints of romantic feelings towards her, and Kate was just plain dense. She didn't pick up any hints dropped by Keith, me, or the boys in our class who tried hitting on her—although maybe the reason she never got any dates while at school was because when a boy tried to ask her out, Keith would be glaring meanly from nearby and the boy in question would head for the hills before he could pop the question.

We were all seated and listening to Isaac's speech when suddenly two Tangrowth burst forward from the basement. Everyone freaked out (especially Ms. April, who just 'couldn't stand to see that kind of jumbled up outgrowth of anything'), but Kate and Keith immediately jumped up to capture the two gargantuan Pokémon.

I was amazed when I saw them work together. They were totally in sync despite their clashing personalities. It was as if they could read each other's minds or something.

Once the Tangrowth were captured and had gone on their merry way, everyone sat back down to finish the ceremonies.

We all watched the rest of Isaac's speech in peace, and I tried to ignore Keith's quips about how me and that braniac would somehow make a cute couple.

I was at the Union.

I was shocked to learn that me, Kate and Keith were all becoming Tops. It seemed like some kind of dream. I paid strict attention to Chairperson Erma's lecture on how we were to behave as Top Rangers and Operator now, but I couldn't help but notice Keith sending a small glance Kate's way every now and then.

It was easy to see that his feelings for the brunette had grown over those few months. It wasn't just how he acted when talking to her anymore, but how he changed as a person by just being in her presence. He somehow became gentler, more kind. I couldn't blame him. Kate was like an aphrodisiac that made the hard times of life easier to bear.

As we talked to each other after the lecture and laughed at our many inside jokes, I also noted that Kate had somehow changed around Keith too. How should I put it… she just… she seemed happier around him. Of course, Kate normally had a happy outlook, but it always seemed as if she was hiding something behind a cold curtain of ice. Around Keith, that thin wall seemed to slowly melt away. The smiles she wore were from the heart. It didn't look as if anything was on her mind or if she was worrying about anything.

The sad thing was that she probably didn't even notice that change herself. She was much too dense, as previously put.

I was there after the Yellow Gem.

Well, indirectly. Kate called me when she was supposed to be searching for Keith. According to the Voicemail session we were having, she'd found him. Apparently he'd been kidnapped? And what's more, Kate had given over the Yellow Gem in return for his safe release. As I talked to her, I could tell that she was beside herself. She might have even been crying. I calmed and soothed her, and just as I hung up and turned around to meet her at the front doors I saw Keith come in.

I stared. I had assumed, of course, that he'd been with Kate, despite her not mentioning it. I slowly asked him why he hadn't come back with Kate.

He shrugged and went upstairs.

I looked after him and sighed as I walked towards the escalator to meet Kate. It looked as if things would be complicated from here on out.

I was at the final battle.

Again, indirectly. I was sitting in front of my huge Top Operator screen, giving close instructions to Wendy whilst the other Top Operators carefully instructed other people at the scene. We had hacked into cameras at Altru to watch what exactly was going on at the scene.

I had made it a separate mission of mine to look out for Kate as she confronted Blake Hall, but I had been forced to take my eyes off her in order to fulfill my main commitment to taking care of Wendy. Once I got the chance to peek over at Kate, though, I was horrified by what I saw.

Kate was being pulled by her feet into that evil thing called 'the darkness'. I gasped in terror. This could not be happening. Kate couldn't disappear.

As always, I was right.

At that moment, Keith, in all his idiotic glory, swooped down with a captured Staraptor and grabbed Kate's almost vanished hand. They flew for a minute before finally landing safely away from that giant black pit of all things scary.

I watched the two exchange a few words, but my eyes were flickering between their screen and Wendy's the entire time. Stupid main commitment. When I gave them one final glimpse, though, they both looked red in the face. Their eyes, however, were both filled with some strange, beautiful emotion that almost gave me butterflies in my stomach.

I stared at the computer screen until Keith got on his Staraptor and flew off, and then I smiled.

It was about time.

I was at the party.

Specifically the party celebrating Almia avoiding its very near destruction. Blake Hall was gone, Altru Incorporated was to be run by the Union now, and all the Dim Suns had practically vanished. It was a mass celebration held across the entire region.

I had my eyes on Kate and Keith, the world's newest happy couple, almost the entire time. Sweet Keith flat out refused to take his arm away from around Kate's waist the entire time, and despite bitter Kate's mild protests, she didn't seem to mind that much.

I was happy for them. Finally, finally, after all these years (actually, it had only been about two years), they had gotten together. Thank Arceus.

They were such a weird pair. He was like sweet vanilla that made the taste of something less plain, and yet if you ate too much of it you'd get sick. She was like bitter salt, seeming to make everything a little harder to swallow but easier to enjoy. They were absolutely nothing alike. Despite all that, though, they were perfect for each other in every way possible. They proved that even complete opposites could be together.

…And speaking of complete opposites…

I tore my eyes away from my two best friends to see Isaac, the mushroom-head boy from Ranger School, talking to some scientists. He was nothing like me. He was calm, gentle, unconcerned with outside appearance, and down to earth…

I hesitated a bit, but then I finally walked towards him.

Hey, if they could make it work, so could I.

How was it? Not too fluffy? I've always wanted to write from Rhythmi's POV. This oneshot was written entirely while in the car on a road trip to New Hampshire for vacation. We'll be arriving at 4:30 AM tomorrow morning. The title and theme of this entire oneshot was from the song 'Vanilla Salt' by Yui Horie. It's the first ending song to the anime 'Toradora!'. I was listening to it while in the car, and it hit me: Keith's sweet like vanilla, Kate's bitter like salt (well, at least she is in my fanfic Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia), and everything just clicked from there. So I pulled my laptop out of its case and got to work. I had a lot of fun writing this. It took me approximately four hours to get it written, so it was a good way to kill time… Hm. I think I'll go listen to more random songs and write more random oneshots inspired from those random songs.

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