Me-Hey guys and welcome back to Pokemon Ranger: Shadows Of Almia! My Way!

Kate-We are just so glad!

Keith-Why?

Me-Because we apparently got 23 reviews! So, you guys get some gum, pineapple flavored gum, some of Kate's jello, and a virtual Keith voodoo doll!

Rhythmi-Question: Are there any birthdays coming up?

Me-Yeah! My younger guy friend's birthday is just around the corner, as well!

Kate-Ah! That sounds nice.

Me-*nods* It does.

.HunterXx does not own Pokemon! (by ze way, that's still us!)

Me-And onto the talking to the reviewers!


PKMN Trainer Crystal- Haha, thanks! Virtual gum, pineapple flavored gum, some jello, and a virtual Keith voodoo doll! :)

Willowpelt12- Yes, he will. And also, my Keith is very special, so yeah...XD Virtual gum, pineapple flavored gum, some jello, and a virtual Keith voodoo doll! :)

WolfGemtail- Aw, thanks! Oh, and happy birthday! :) Virtual gum, pineapple flavored gum, some jello, and a virtual Keith voodoo doll!

Blossomlight907- Thanks! Virtual gum, pineapple flavored gum, some jello, and a virtual Keith voodoo doll!

Rich and Smexy- Well...this is new, Manic. Anyway, thanks for the support even though you tease me a lot. Virtual gum, pineapple flavored gum, some jello, and a virtual Keith voodoo doll!

Full Moon And New Moon- Aw, thanks Kirie! Miss Kirie Miley, you are such a great person. Virtual gum, pineapple flavored gum, some jello, and a virtual Keith voodoo doll! :)

Rich and Smexy- You said that you reviewed when you were not anonymous, but I don't see your reviews! Oh well. Virtual gum, pineapple flavored gum, some jello, and a virtual Keith voodoo doll! :)

Rich and Smexy- And again, I swore that you reviewed here. Well, virtual gum, pineapple flavored gum, some jello, and a virtual Keith voodoo doll! :)

Eevee20- Confessions come at the end of the story. Virtual gum, pineapple flavored gum, some jello, and a virtual Keith voodoo doll! :)

Amethystxoxo- Kay. Thanks for your support! Virtual gum, pineapple flavored gum, some jello, and a virtual Keith voodoo doll! :)

DawnShinji- Aw, thanks so much! Virtual gum, pineapple flavored gum, and a virtual Keith voodoo doll! :)

Naomi-And read on!


Kate's POV

"Test...of Courage?" I questioned, wondering what that was.

Rhythmi nodded.

"Yeah. Me, Naomi, Drake, and Jayla hid our stylers in the classroom, the staff room, the library, and in Mr. Kincaid's classroom. This is our way of welcoming new students." Rhythmi explained.

"So, what do I do with the stylers?" I questioned.

"Well, you have to find them and go downstairs in the basement. Once you get there, you place the stylers in front of a door right by the dead end and come back up here. Mr. Kincaid's office is down there, so you have to be extra careful." Naomi pointed out.

I felt sick to the stomach once Naomi got done explaining that part.

"I have to go alone?" I managed to say.

Naomi laughed.

"No way! You get to go with someone!" Naomi said.

I sighed in relief.

"Good. I claim picking Rhythmi." I said.

Rhythmi shook her head, making me frown.

"Sorry, but you have to go with the person sitting next to you and I don't sit next to you." Rhythmi jabbed her thumb at Keith. "You gotta go with him." she said.

Keith jolted.

"Excuse me?! Who said that I was- - -" Rhythmi shushed him before he could continue ranting.

"Just do it, Keith. I've got no time for games." Rhythmi stated as she threw him a flashlight.

Drake nudged Keith.

"Relax, bro! Besides, you'll get to mess with that hunk of junk while on the test." he said while arching up his eyebrows suggestively.

Keith smirked.

"That is exactly true, Drake." he said.

"Well?" Rhythmi asked, getting impatient with every second.

"I'll go. Besides, I don't mind going with her..." he trailed off.

Naomi smiled.

"Good." she stated.

I spotted Jayla glaring at me from out of the corner of my eye, but I brushed it off.

"You guys got twenty minutes to complete the test. And...begin!" Rhythmi declared as she started the timer on her phone.


We walked through the dark hallway together.

I knew that Keith was itching to grab my hand because he kept swinging his right hand and his fingertips kept grazing the palm of my hand.

"Okay, this is awkward..." I trailed off in my thoughts.

We then heard a very eerie noise.

I shivered, which made Keith look at me.

"I'm not scared, if that's what you're thinking." I said defiantly as we reached Mr. Kincaid's classroom.

He opened the door and a bunch of Zubats flew out of the classroom.

I screamed before unconsciously clinging onto Keith.

The last Zubat flew out and we walked into the classroom.

He smirked.

"I thought you weren't scared." he teased.

Once my eyes adjusted to the dark, I realized that I was holding onto Keith's hand with my face in the crook of his neck.

I never realized how tall he was until now. He was about two inches taller than me and I'm five foot one.

"Hey, we gotta find that styler." he said.

I let go of him and we began to observe the classroom. I remembered that I had my styler just in case I needed to do a capture or a Target Clear.

I spotted a crate right by the teacher's desk.

"I wonder..." I wondered as I captured a Bidoof and drew a straight line from the Bidoof to the crate.

"Bidoof, use Target Clear on that crate!" I exclaimed.

Bidoof crashed into the crate and I found the first styler laying on the ground.

I picked it up and saw Naomi's name written on it in black Expo marker.

"KEITH! I found the first styler!" I called out.

Keith ran over to where I was.

"Great. Now, let's head to the library." he said as we walked out.

A Zubat began to follow us. Well, mostly me, to be exact.

Keith noticed and smirked.

"Sorry but," he grabbed my ass, which made me gasp. "That's mine." he snapped at the Zubat.

The Zubat hissed at him before flying off.

I gasped as he squeezed my ass.

"Keith, what are you- - -" he forcefully pulled me into Miss April's classroom and pushed me over to the side.

He pushed the four desks in the far right corner of the room together and kicked the chairs away.

He picked me up and laid me on the desks.

"Keith, what are you- - -" he shushed me as he pulled out a paintbrush.

"If you don't want me to hurt you, then I suggest that you shut up." he snapped as he put the paintbrush down and he pulled out some rope.

"Rope? What's he gonna do with that?" I asked myself.

Before he could continue what he was doing, my phone rang.

I pulled it out and answered it.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Kate, you got sixteen minutes. Just a heads up, kay?" Rhythmi said before hanging up.

I stuffed my phone into my pocket as Keith pulled out some rope from a nearby cupboard.

"There." he said as he cut some rope with his Swiss pocket knife.

I gasped as I realized what he was up to.

"Bo...bondage?! Why would he want to do that to me? Unless..." I trailed off in my thoughts as I tried to figure out a way out of this mess.

I then noticed that he placed the flashlight right next to me.

As he got ready to tie me down, I grabbed the flashlight and shined it in his eyes.

He staggered back in shock while closing his eyes.

I hopped off the desks and pushed the ropes off to the side.

"We got something to do, remember?" I snapped before looking around in the classroom for the styler.

I then spotted something reflecting off of the moonlight by the windowsill.

I gasped as I ran over to it and picked it up.

"It's Drake's styler." a voice said suddenly.

I turned around and saw Keith scratching the back of his head.

"Jayla just texted me and said that we have fourteen minutes to finish up. I suggest we go to the library next." Keith suggested.

I nodded.

"Alright." I said.


"KEITH...! What the hell are you doing?!" I snapped angrily.

Keith yawned from a nearby table.

"I'm catching up on my beauty sleep. Got a problem with that?" Keith asked as he began to sleep.

I sweat dropped as I began to look for the styler.

"Where is it?" I asked myself out loud.

I then backed up against a bookcase roughly, causing most of the books to fall off the shelve.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" I screamed as I got buried underneath the books.

I managed to get out of the book pile and spotted a styler not too far away from me.

There was pink zebra duct tape on the bottom and at the top, it said Jayla.

I smiled as I picked it up.

"Yes! Found it!" I declared.

I got up and sighed as I rubbed the back of my neck.

"Keith, let's go." I said.

I then noticed that Keith was still catching up with his "beauty sleep".

I sweat dropped before heading out of the library without him.


I opened the door to the Staff Room and sighed.

"Where's that styler?" I asked myself as I continued to look around.

I turned on the flashlight and began to flash the light around the room.

Someone wrapped their arms around my waist and pulled me towards them.

"ACK! What are you- - -" the person who held me shushed me.

"You've been a naughty girl, Miss Kate." a voice whispered in my ear huskily.

The person spun me around so that I was facing them.

"Keith..." I trailed off once I realized who I was staring at.

He stared at me before leaning in towards me.

I tried to lean my head away, but he held my head still with one hand.

Before he could kiss me, we both heard a high pitched squeal from by the filing cabinet.

I gasped as I unconsciously put my hand on his lips and began to look around quickly.

"Hello?" I called out.

Silence answered my call.

I felt Keith begin to bite my middle finger and nibble on it.

I yanked my hand away almost instantly.

"Hey, you stop it." I hissed as I pushed him away and began to look around.

"Hello?" I called out again.

Just then, a Pichu raced past me with something in its hands.

"Hey! What's that in your hand?" I asked.

The Pichu waved the thing it its hand and Keith gasped in astonishment.

"That's Rhythmi's! Give it back!" he hissed before running after the Pichu.

"Keith! Don't hurt the Pichu! All you have to do is capture it!" I called out.

"I get it, Kate!" he snapped as he dove for the Pichu, but missed and landed face first on the ground.

I began to feel like he heard the last thing I said and I began to feel sick, fearing that he was going to actually hurt that poor Pichu.

My phone beeped and I pulled it out to see Rhythmi's text saying tha we had only eight minutes left.

"Keith, hurry up! Rhythmi says that we have eight minutes left!" I hissed.

"Ya think I'm not hurrying?!" he snapped back as he continued to chase the Pichu. He whizzed past me and crashed into the filing cabinet.

I tried not to snicker at his clumsiness. I then remembered something that my mom told me when I was young.

"When you want a Pichu to come up to you without scaring it, sing this song." her words and the song Safe and Sound echoed through my mind as I dropped to the ground and began to sing the song. (A/N: I don't own Safe and Sound by Taylor Swift.)

The Pichu stopped running away and walked over towards me. Keith stopped six inches away from me and stared at me in shock.

Once I finished singing, the Pichu had curled up right next to me.

"You're alright. Now, can I have that styler back? It's my very best friend's." I said gently.

The Pichu nodded before handing me the styler and running out of the Staff Room.

I smiled before getting up.

"Hey...why'd you do that?" Keith asked, still shocked.

"My mom told me that if you want to get a Pichu to come over to you without scaring it, you have to sing Safe and Sound to reassure the Pichu that it's safe with you." I explained as we walked out of the Staff Room.

"You know your stuff." he complimented.

"Well, thank you." I thanked him.

It was silent before Keith's phone began to ring. He picked it up and answered it.

"Yello?" he answered.

"Okay...Five minutes?! You're nuts, Rhythmi. Okay. Alright. We're heading down to where Mr. Kincaid's office is, so we'll be done pretty shortly. And no, I did nothing to Kate. Okay. Bye." Keith finished his conversation and turned off his phone.

"Who was that?" I questioned.

"Rhythmi. She says that we got five minutes before the test is over. I suggest we go down there before it's too late." he suggested before heading over to the basement.

I shrugged before following him down there.

Once we reached the bottom, we spotted two tall crates in our way.

"Well," Keith took out his Styler and began to examine the crate with his Examiner. "This crate is too tall enough for just a small Bidoof to break through." he stated.

I frowned deeply as I began to look around for a Pokemon to use for this Target Clear. A Zubat flew past me and an idea struck me.

I whipped out my Styler and pointed it at the Zubat.

"Capture...ON!" I exclaimed as I began to draw circles around the Zubat. The Zubat was finally captured after the twentieth circle around it.

"Capture complete." I declared.

Keith smirked.

"Ah...nice job." he complimented, which made me feel all weird inside.

"Well, thank you." I said as I drew a line form the Zubat to the tall crate.

"Zubat, use Target Clear on that crate!" I called out. Zubat slashed at it with his wings and the crate shattered right before us.

"Thanks, Zubat." I told it before the Zubat flew off.

Keith strode past me and sighed.

"Well...at least not a lot got damaged..." Keith trailed off, which made me shoot him the evil eye.

"Hurry or else we'll- - -" Once we reached by the door we were supposed to put the Stylers, we heard some eerie noices.

I saw Keith jolt from right beside me.

"Um...Kate? Have you noticed any weird sounds ever since we got here?" Keith asked quietly.

"No. What, are you chicken?" I sneered, which made Keith glare at me.

"Me, being a chicken?! No way! Keith Frederick Kazuomi is not afraid!" Keith stated defiantly, which made me snicker.

"Frederick? Huh, I'll have to put that in my mental folder on weird facts about Keith..." I trailed off.

"Kate, stop being such a pushover." Keith snapped.

"Well, you're the one who decided to mess with me in the first place!" I shot back.

"Well- - -" that same eerie nosie cut us off again and Keith snarled.

"Shut up, whatever's out there." he hissed and his reply was the same eerie noise. But, this time, it was more louder than the last two times.

"Um...can we just plunk the Stylers down here and leave? I think I hear Drake calling..." Keith trailed off.

"Okay, okay, okay! I'll do it as soon as you stop complaining!" I huffed out an irritated sigh.

Keith pushed his hands into the pockets in his hoodie and groaned, wondering why I was taking my merry time putting each Styler down.

Before I could put Jayla's Styler down, four Gastly appeared in front of us and Keith let out the most girly scream I have ever heard.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAH! Kate, hide me!" he screeched before jumping behind me.

I laughed at his sudden reaction, but I was feeling kind of scared, too.

"Hey, Keith. I think I'm more brave than you. I screamed at some Zubat while you scream like a hussy whenever it comes to Gastly." I teased.

"You hush up! Like I said, I'm no chicken and I'm definitely not afraid of some measly little- - -" the Gastly hissed at him, which made Keith cowere behind me even more.

"ACK! Kate, you do it!" Keith whined before pushing me towards the Gastly, officially making me have to capture the Gastly.

I grabbed Rhythmi's Styler and began to do the capture. As I began to capture the second Gastly, it had disappeared.

"Kate! Gastly are Ghost-types, so they can warp to any spot as they please!" Keith pointed out.

I looked at the Gastly as another one disappeared. I tried to pinpoint where the next one would be, but my mom had never taught me anything along the lines of pinpointing where Ghost-type Pokemon tend to go next when warping. I then heard that same girly scream again. I turned around and saw Keith cornered by two Gastly.

I drew circles around the Gastly just as Keith ducked with his hands over his head. I captured the two Gastly and began to search for the last one.

"Keith...? Do you think the last Gastly left?" I questioned as I shakily pointed my Styler at random parts of the dark hall.

"Who knows?" Keith shot back as he got up and whipped out his Styler, just in case he had to capture the Gastly.

Just then, I felt something tickle me from inside my blazer.

"Hey...Keith? Are you tickling me?" I asked.

"No! You think I'd tickle you at a time like this?!" Keith snapped as he scanned the area.

"Well, whatever or whoever it is, it won't stop tickling me! And it's killing me!" I exclaimed.

I then felt a pair of ghostly hands on my upper chest and I then realized something.

"Keith...? Are you attempting to- - -" I was cut off by an evil laugh as the Gastly appeared before me and with its ghostly hands (let's just pretend that Gastly has hands at the moment), it began to grope me.

"KYA~! Stop it!" I screeched as I backed up quickly and found myself pressed up against a chest. One hand covered my mouth from screeching again and the other drew loops around the Gastly and the ghost-type Pokemon was captured.

I looked up and I could make out the outline of Keith's spiky hair.

"You stupid girl! Watch your surroundings next time!" he snapped angrily as he let go of me and I swore that I felt a pang in my stomach. But, I shook it off.

Just then, the door opened and a very outraged Mr. Kincaid came out with steam literally coming out of his nostrils and ears.

"WHO'S THERE?!" he hollered, which made me both jumped. Kincaid then looked at us with his narrowed hazel eyes.

"You fools! This basement is off-limits to everyone but myself! I shall have you guys reported to the Principal, you rascals!" he yelled.

Keith grabbed my wrist.

"Aw shit! Run for it, Kate!" Keith hissed before dragging me off with him.

Kincaid let out a hmph! before slamming the door behind him.

We both reached the stairs and we both let out pants. Keith looked down at the dark basement with worry in his eyes.

"Kate...he was completely scary! I am never going back down there ever again. And," Keith glanced at the clock on the wall. "We've got only fifty-eight seconds before it's over! He was such a waste of my freaking time!" Keith complained.

I laughed at Keith's outburst and grabbed his hand, intertwining my fingers with his own.

"Let's go, Keith." I said before pulling him up the stairs with me.


Normal POV

Kincaid walked back into his office and saw a boy with mushroom cut blonde hair in the middle of some research papers piled up in messy piles.

The boy turned around and looked at Mr. Kincaid.

"Is something wrong, sir?"

Mr. Kincaid shook his head while rubbing his temples and sitting by his computer that had too many complicated graphs on it.

"...It's nothing. Just a Zubat making a racket out there."

"Oh. I see, sir."

"Anyway, how did the experiment go? Did it work? Or did you flunk it and look at the peppy blondie on your screensaver?"

The boy backed up against the desk quickly, knocking over some huge stacks of papers from past failed experiments with his face flushed a dark red.

"S-sir! I was not looking at her!"

"But seriously? Was it a success or a failure?"

"It's to be determined, sir. I haven't finished the controls system. But overall, it's all just an adjustment for right now."

Mr. Kincaid smiled at the boy in front of him before patting the boy's shoulder.

"Issac, I'm really proud of you. I'm counting on you to succeed with this."

"Okay.

"Oh, and speaking of the time, it's almost midnight. I think you should go to bed now."

"But sir...! What about the research?!"

"Not enough sleep will mess up our research and shall be avoided. Go get some sleep, Issac."

Issac sighed.

"Fine. I shall hit the hay, then."

"Goodnight, Issac."

"Night, Mr. Kincaid!"

Issac left the room and Mr. Kincaid stalked over to his computer. Just as Issac closed the door behind him, Mr. Kincaid watched the progress in his research so far.

"When will it be complete...?" he asked himself.


Me-And that's it, folks!

Rhythmi-Well...that was quite the chapter.

Kate-...

Keith-...I SO DO NOT SCREAM LIKE A GIRL!

Everyone-*laughs*

Issac-R&R please! If you do, you get a virtual Zubat cookie! :)