An honourable mention goes to Eeveeleah for taking care to read this story! So you couldn't log in to Fanfiction, huh? At least you could still leave comments, anyway.

This is the next chapter in the Operation Brighton series. It's focus is on the decisive captures and battle with Ice in Altru Tower. And honestly, in the game, could a single Ranger hope to capture three overpowered Pokemon at once whilst considering the mortal physical harm they could bring? Certainly, he or she has to have had some backup at least. This chapter will consider that.


Chapter eight: The Onslaught of Ice

As Kellyn led the group to the next flight of stairs in the counter-clockwise direction a violent rumbling, even more violent than the previous one, shook the whole building. It nearly threw the group off their feet.

"THIS IS ALTRU CORE COMPUTER. THIS IS ALTRU CORE COMPUTER," the same loudspeaker roared through the corridors and the roof. "THE INCREDIBLE MACHINE'S POWER LEVEL IS CURRENTLY 1. POWER NEEDED FOR LEVEL 2 IS… 10%. I REPEAT. 10%. POWER IS RISING STEADILY. THERE ARE NO ABNONORMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMALITIES."

"Oh, dear," Isaac frowned. "The system seems to be speeding up progress. But it's almost level 2. We can't waste any more time now!"

Isaac looked at his former classmates and, while it was still a high-risk mission with higher stakes, he could tell Kellyn and Kate looked very tired.

"Come on, guys! It might take all night, but at least you have to have some motive, right?" Isaac snapped his fingers in front of their faces.

"I suppose…" they groaned.

Isaac frowned and nodded to their Pachirisu's.

ZZZZZTTTTTTT

"OW!"

Their Partner Pokémon, their long trusted friends since the days on Nabiki Beach, electrified them right on the spot and practically fried them. A shocking burst of paralysing energy soared through their bodies and minds. In short, it was a way to refresh them.

It felt like their eyes, once drowsy, had become –

"Awake?" Isaac inquired, judging by their expressions. "I understand that Operation Brighton might be taking a toll on your mental health, but remember that we have an entire region to save from Blake Hall. Just keep focused and fight hard!"

Kellyn glanced at Pachirisu, then Kirlia, and finally Grotle. Of the three Pokémon, Grotle was the only one looking tired. The Top Ranger assumed that Pachirisu, with an inexhaustible supply of electricity, and Kirlia, having spent much of the early part of her lifetime in the depths of Chroma Ruins, would have had no problem staying awake in spite of lack of light.

Isaac grinned and walked in the counter-clockwise direction to the final room feeding the barrier outside. The room in fact had dark tones of blue, and the electrical wires feeding energy to the barrier were in fact blue energy, which was strange. The Rangers had no surprise, as the blue-coloured energy was likely sourced from its respective Circuit Ball, like the red and yellow Circuit Balls before it.

Ice, Kate and Kellyn thought.

"Yeah… it's the last room creating the barrier," the scientist Isaac confirmed. "I'm not surprised if you'd already guessed who it would be, being the last of the Sinis Trio and wearing blue, but it is Ice. Bear in mind, he's the head of the Trio, so don't underestimate him."

Kellyn led the charge into the room, but like the previous two times he and Kate did before Isaac would stop the second Ranger from staying into the room. Predictably, he stopped Kate from entering the room.

"Okay, Kate, I'll need you capture the Ampharos just outside where Kellyn battled Heath," Isaac instructed. "I know you might want a taste of action, but we need to get things done as efficiently as possible. There's no time to do some selfish acts."

Kate raged, "Are you accusing ME of being selfish?! I'm only trying to get the Mission done!"

Frustrated at Isaac's senseless comment, Kate tore off in a rush to find the Ampharos, Isaac could only chuckle as he walked into the third barrier control room with Kellyn.


Standing between Kellyn and the blue Circuit Ball was Ice, and standing between Ice and the Circuit Ball was his controlled Gallade. With Grotle fearlessly walking in behind Kellyn, and a slightly frightened Kirlia, the Pokémon Ranger went to face Ice.

"Hello there, Top Ranger!" Ice called and waved. "And a hello to our computer master, the boy genius Isaac! Welcome to Altru Tower, my friends."

Kellyn and Isaac frowned.

"Very soon, a new time will arrive upon Almia," Ice went on. "We will establish a dawning new era of order and peace upon this region. Join me… in counting down each second that passes from Almia's old past to its new beginning!"

"You always have to act like you're always in power, don't you?" Kellyn asked rhetorically. "That's really interesting, and it must feel good, doesn't it?"

Ice rushed, "By the way, I've always been a pacifist. It's just how I am."

How ironic, Kellyn thought.

"I'm doing this in the name of peace! I fight for peace!" Ice posed a flashy stance. "We are poised for victory! Gallade, please get these infiltrators off the vicinity. You are authorised the use of excessive force at will."

Kellyn waited for Ice to move, but quickly realised very quickly what Gallade was going to do, and by then Gallade had leapt into the air and was right above Ice's head. Focusing on Gallade rather than Ice, Kellyn lifted up his Vatonage Styler.

"Capture… on!"


Gallade swiftly teleported from place to place which made Kellyn's capturing with the Vatonage Styler very difficult. When he aimed his fingers to a spot where Gallade was and started drawing the Capture Line, Gallade would instantly teleport somewhere else so Kellyn would have to aim elsewhere.

At least the Vatonage Styler, combined with the qualities of the Fine Styler, still retained the ability to aim where it wanted the Capture Disc to go with accurate and fine hand control.

But Gallade was smarter than Kellyn thought, as it sliced the Capture Line several times and teleported frequently. In Kellyn's eyes, these were signs that Gallade was a very tactical Pokémon, attacking and then slipping into thin air the next second. Kellyn had to be completely alert every time Gallade teleported, because he could never predict if Gallade teleported to his back and slashed him from behind.

"Where's your friend Kate?" Ice shouted, trying to distract Kellyn. "She must have pulled away as a coward. Or rather, she thinks she's too good for you. Don't you think that after all you two have been through, along with that friend of yours Keith, aren't you a little jealous of them?"

This left Kellyn feeling a little uncomfortable, but was able to keep his focus.

I shouldn't need Kate's help all the time, Kellyn thought. After all, I am a Top Ranger and so is she. We should be able to handle captures on our own the entire time!

Kellyn looked to his right, where Gallade had reappeared, and flung his right-hand fingers in that direction where the Capture Disc had instantly zipped to where his fingers directed. He had to be quick and capture that Gallade – the Friendship Gauge was rising steadily, but it was only a matter of time before Gallade would disappear once more.

Gallade appeared right behind Kellyn, and the Ranger knew this. Kellyn turned around, only to see that Gallade was standing right behind Grotle and Kirlia.

"Guys! Move!" Kellyn shouted.

He was narrowly on time.

Kirlia grabbed hold of Grotle, and teleported the two to a short distance away right before Gallade made a violent swipe where Grotle and Kirlia were just standing. Kirlia nodded to Kellyn, and Kellyn went on capturing.

Great, now he knows I want to attack his Pokémon, Ice thought, I better switch tactics.

"Direct assault, and use of excessive force," Ice muttered.

Kellyn looked to his right and saw Gallade charging towards him, unable to leap away on time, Kellyn blocked the incoming attack of slices by grabbing hold of Gallade's arms before they could reach him. He knew that Gallade would overpower him eventually, and his Capture Disc was now on the ceiling…

Clunk.

Eh? Kellyn thought.

Grotle had charged down at Gallade's knees, and it appeared that Kirlia had been sitting on top of Grotle's shell and had helped push Gallade off-balance too. Kellyn took advantage of Gallade's weakness and threw Gallade aside and onto the ground. As a Ranger, he wasn't supposed to harm Pokémon, despite that he was supposed to increase the Friendship Gauge.

That reminded Kellyn to look at the gauge on his Styler, and he gloomily saw the gauge start to rapidly decline. Kellyn aimed his fingers to the Gallade again and continued the capture.

Electric orbs were implanted into the ground courtesy of Gallade. Kellyn, aware of its hazards, had to cautiously maneuver the Capture Disc around each orb in an attempt to swing a line around Gallade, but the target Pokémon didn't make it easy as he teleported frequently.

Gallade disappeared in a teleport, and Kellyn had guesses to where he might appear.

Kellyn took a one-second analysis.

Seven tenths of a second were wasted looking at the area in front of him.

Fifteen hundredths of a second was used to look at his right.

Fifteen hundredths of a second was used to look at his left.

SLASH

Kellyn fell on his knees.

The Gallade had indeed teleported to his left, and in a split-second had attacked Kellyn's weaker arm with a Slash. With the 'use of excessive force' in mind, Gallade relentlessly slashed Kellyn's arm to make the pain much more intense. The Top Ranger's physical condition was protected by his Styler, but the physical pain let alone mental pain was a different story.

The Top Ranger wanted to get up now…

Clunk.

Again, Grotle and Kirlia had collided with Gallade once more. Unlike the previous collision, both Grotle and Kirlia chose to collapse right on top of Gallade to prevent further damage and movement. In addition, Pachirisu went up to the target Pokémon and shocked him silly.

In spite of a pained arm, Kellyn could still stand and perform a capture of Gallade once and for all. He aimed his Styler arm, swung his fingers for the Capture Disc to do its capture again. The gauge on the Styler was once again filling up fast.

"Capture complete!" Kellyn declared.


Gallade was released, with Ice stepping back in defeat.

"Beaten by a couple of kids, sheesh," Ice kicked a leg.

Isaac took initiative again like the previous two times. "Ice, I'd like to take a look at your booby-trap programs here."

"Be my guest," Ice gestured, and Isaac willingly ran over to the controls on the Circuit Ball. Now, normally Kellyn would have expected Isaac to get the job done just like that, but…

"This is weird," Isaac had a confused face. "This isn't the amateur-hour program which I taught the Trio in the first place!"

"What?!" Kellyn dragged his injured arm to where Isaac was standing, and by then Kate had arrived in the room with the Ampharos.

Kate first looked around the room, taking in what had just happened from Ice standing right in front of her to Isaac, Kellyn, and Kellyn's Pachirisu were standing at the Circuit Ball. Kate safely assumed that Kellyn had finished the capture.

"Oh, hey, Isaac," she said, "I've brought the Ampharos – oh my gosh! Kellyn! Are you alright?!"

A worried and astonished face overcame Kate's, as she saw Kellyn tightly clenching his left arm which was covered in slash marks. Kate went straight to him to closely examine what had injured her co-worker. To Kate's relief, there were no wounds, since protection was guaranteed by the Styler. To Kate's disbelief, Kellyn wasn't looking that well.

"What happened?" she asked, looking directly at his eyes.

"I – I got slashed by Ice's Gallade," Kellyn weakly said. "Don't worry, it's not that serious of an injury. I admit, it cost me over 50% of Styler energy, and it still hurt. Just focus on the machine."

Kate then looked at Isaac, who was struggling with the program on the Circuit Ball.

Ice broke the atmosphere by making a proud stance, "Hahahaha! Looks like I get the last laugh after all! I wasn't impressed by the kind of program you taught us, Isaac. It appeared to be insufficient, and for your information I've studied programing day and night, so wouldn't you say that the trap program is elegant in many respects?"

Kellyn slouched but all the same curious. "So what compelled you to fix the program?"

"When I heard that two thieves, let alone three, had raided the tower," Ice explained, "I started to redo the program in a hurry. There's no telling what those thieves could do, and I was suspicious."

Rumbling shook the floor and the tower above and below.

"Agh!" Kellyn and Pachirisu fell over, as well as Kate and her Pachirisu.

Isaac knew what to expect: the incredibly loudspeaker and intercom sounding through the entire building.

"THIS IS ALTRU CORE COMPUTER. THIS IS ALTRU CORE COMPUTER. THE INCREDIBLE MACHINE'S POWER LEVEL IS CURRENTLY 1. POWER NEEDED FOR LEVEL 2 IS… VERY LITTLE. I REPEAT. VERY LITTLE. POWER IS RISING STEADILY. THERE ARE NONONO ABABABABABABABABABABABABABABNONONONORMAMAMAMAMAMAMA… THERE ARE NO ABNORMAMAMAMAMAMALITIES."

Ice threw his head back in humour. "Seems like there are abnormalities galore. All the same, Isaac, it is very certain that you are almost out of time. The Incredible Machine will hit level 2 shortly, and at the peak level 3 will be achieved when the date turns. Altru's birthday will have its greatest reason to rejoice then."

Kate and Kellyn looked back to Isaac, who shrugged.

"Don't worry about me, guys, I'll be sure to crack that trap program," Isaac assured. "For now, just hold him off until things are done."

Ice heard him.

"Well, Isaac, it seems that you have no hope in accepting hopeless situations, not to mention that you've always been very bad at it," Ice sighed. "It's what I'd think because of that that you could come up with such a great invention, you might say."

Isaac ignored the Sinis Trio leader and turned to work on cracking the code made by Ice.

It seemed like, with the backing of Kellyn's Friend Pokémon, the two Top Rangers would be able to stand a very good chance against Ice. However, the hope was fractured when Heath and Lavana walked into the room. That didn't look good at all.

"We failing at orders from Boss," Heath said to Ice.

"I'm back from fixing my makeup," Lavana looked ready, but her face was diminished by Ice.

"Your booby-trap programs, both of yours, were absolute junk," Ice sneered, evidently showing his distaste. "They had amateur written all over them. Thanks your stupidity and insolence, these pests have crawled their way up here. Bah, viewing your sorry efforts won't get the job done. Lend me your Pokémon."

Kellyn reached for his Vatonage Styler, but Kate held a hand in front to stop him.

"I'm going to do it first," she murmured. "You reserve some strength until you're ready."

"TAKE THIS THREE POKÉMON ASSAULT!" Ice yelled.

In moments, the Rhyperior and Magmortar from earlier landed from above, and Ice's Gallade took center.

"Oi! Very good, golly done!" Heath clapped his hands. "That Ranger, no chance of victory! Ranger's friend cannot help. Good jobbing Leader!"

The three high-level Pokémon leapt on Kate and Kellyn, and the two Rangers dodged in time for Kate to fire her Vatonage Fine Styler. Since they were the only line of defence between the Pokémon and Isaac, they had to ensure the capture was a success.

"Capture on!" Kate and Kellyn shouted together.


Trying to focus on collaborating to capture one Pokémon was impossible, given that both Kate and Kellyn were separated by a constant fury of attacks from the three Pokémon. An earthquake-like rumble from Rhyperior combined with the firepower of Magmortar was an example why they couldn't stick together.

Kellyn, already having bad memories of Rhyperior and Heath, opted to capture Gallade once more. Given that he had just emerged battle-hardened from capturing the same Gallade earlier, he had the advantage of experience. Kate meanwhile handled Magmortar. Mainly, the reason the Rangers chose to ignore Rhyperior was because they could take advantage of its slow mobility. The most worries that could come from Rhyperior for the time being were constant attacks of rock and showering boulders.

Dodging attacks always seemed to be a routine when it came to fighting Team Dim Sun. The most efficient way, the Top Rangers found, was to roll out of harm's way and allowed momentum to build up to recover quickly and deliver a whole series of encircles before the enemy Pokémon could counter or evade.

A good example was set by Gallade, who fired a Sonicboom to where it thought the Capture Disc was. It missed and instead fired to the ground where Kate was standing on, and she had to roll aside whilst keeping her hand in the air to ensure capturing Magmortar was focused.

Ironically, Ice took the roll as a weakness and focused his efforts on Kellyn.

Kate, in turn, took advantage of Ice's focus to maximise use of her Styler to capture Magmortar, although at a safe distance so the burning effects of Flamethrower would not reach her, with an 'OK!' popping up on her monitor.

"You may have captured Magmortar," Ice said, "but I haven't forgotten about your Pokémon over there, Kellyn. Let's see how they can handle the power of Gallade and Rhyperior."

Grotle and Kirlia were not idiots, and they retreated from Gallade's slices and Rhyperior's rocky tremors to devise a way support Kellyn and Kate in any way they could. It wasn't easy, since Gallade was agile and quick enough to land a terrible blow upon either Grotle or Kirlia, if it wasn't for the fact that that was a distraction for Kellyn to capture him.

Rhyperior at the same time had splattered and rocketed rocks and boulders high into the air, with the projectiles falling to the ground in catastrophic smashing. It hurt to hear, and as a result not only did Kate and Kellyn nearly get hit by the crushing tonnes of rock but it misdirected their Capture Discs into the wall.

Gallade saw the moment of opportunity to attack…

Unfortunately, as Grotle lashed out a Vine Whip, Gallade realised too late. The Capture Disc linked to the Vatonage Styler had returned and circled the Capture Line around him in rapid circles. Given that a Vine Whip was strangling Gallade in place, he could not move.

"Hold that, Grotle!" Kellyn struggled to stand from the trembling ground. "I'll – I'll be there!"

Despite Grotle had Gallade stuck in deadlock, he still found that his vines weren't going to be enough to keep it that way. He could already feel Gallade building up strength to attempt to force its way free.

For Grotle, the strain started to get to him. Within ten seconds, Gallade would be able to break out of the Vine Whip and ready a series of Slashes and Sonicbooms.

Fortunately for Grotle, Gallade didn't have ten seconds.

By the time Gallade regained the strength to break free of Grotle's grip, it was too late. Kellyn had successfully completed the capture. Grotle, knowing that the capture was done, slowly released its grip on Gallade, and with Grotle and Kirlia's guidance Gallade retreated.

That meant that only Rhyperior was left. However, the most that Rhyperior did was rampage around with dangerous Rock Wreckers. Each part of the floor was ripped and torn asunder by massive fast-moving boulders.

How dare Ice abuse Rhyperior like that! Kate angrily thought, looking at the tired state of Rhyperior. Aiming her Styler in the direction of the Drill Pokémon, she spun her Capture Disc in a solid state so the Capture Line would be tightly wrapped around Rhyperior without actually touching the Pokémon. Using her Pachirisu to help was out of the question, as the type of Pokémon Rhyperior was, along with its ability, could basically null the effect of Pachirisu's stunning.

Both Kate and Kellyn knew that the repeated use of Rock Wrecker could be hazardous to the user's health. If Rhyperior were to keep using it, it might not last much longer. In a sense of paradox, despite the circumstances, the last thing either Kate or Kellyn wanted was for Rhyperior to be completely exhausted from using all those Rock Wreckers. They were more worried for the Pokémon's health, after all.

Ice chose (key word: chose) not to focus on that aspect and went on with his continual assault. Even though Gallade and Magmortar were gone, he at least had one more powerful Pokémon to rely on to get the remaining job done. Defeat the Rangers. His best weapon was that he knew what Kate and Kellyn were thinking, so he decided to keep firing away at them until one of them fell, or until Rhyperior fell.

Rock Wrecker after Rock Wrecker, there were always times where Kate and Kellyn, let alone Isaac, could have been fatally wounded in the progress. It was fortunate for Isaac that he could use the virtually indestructible Circuit Ball as a shield while he worked on cracking the code.

"Fall back!" Kellyn ordered, waving to Kate, Grotle, and Kirlia to hide behind the Circuit Ball, just as another Rock Wrecker soared in their direction and violently hit the Circuit Ball.

Once they were safe, Kellyn said, "We need to make a strategy right now. There's no way we can capture Rhyperior while it's creating earth tremors and Rock Wreckers everywhere."

"But for Rhyperior's sake, Kellyn," Kate interjected, "we can't afford to have it fall. We would have partly failed in our duty as Rangers!"

Kellyn sighed, still deep in thought. "Then do you have any ideas what to do, Kate?"

CRAAAACK

The shattering of another Rock Wrecker meant that it was one step closer for Rhyperior to collapse, whilst being an indicator that Rhyperior could literally tear them apart right now.

Kate made a snap decision and jumped to confront the Pokémon, swinging the Capture Disc to create another Capture Line. Kellyn decided to provide support and utilized his Vatonage Styler to create distracting movements around Rhyperior's head all the way to Ice's face. It was so bad that Ice couldn't focus.

Kate, in the end, took full advantage of Kellyn's distractions and rapidly encircled her Capture Disc around Rhyperior. Although the Capture Disc was moving very quickly, her arm wasn't moving as fast, and Kate glimpsed the Friendship Gauge finally making a lot of progress.

At least it was until Rhyperior created an Earthquake.

The excessive rumbling had thrown Kate and Kellyn, as well as Isaac, off their feet. The feeling that got to their heads was one that could be explained in words like dizziness. It made Kate feel sick to her stomach while Kellyn at the same time struggled to keep his optical focus. Isaac clung onto the Circuit Ball controls for dear life, mainly because he was so focused on cracking the code.

"Kellyn! Recall!" Kate bellowed, and Kellyn complied with the order.

Their Capture Discs flew back into their Stylers and the Rangers tried to cope with the ever-changing terrain around them. True, they were on a tower floor, which meant by every right the tower should have collapsed. The thing was that this was a sturdy tower, and Rhyperior could limit its own power to determine what was safe and what was not.

Being an Earthquake, it was also common knowledge that that was dangerous to a Pachirisu's health. In fact, Kate was very surprised that Rhyperior could still be able to manage such a destructive attack after all those Rock Wreckers.

Now, the Rhyperior looked like it was about to collapse.

"Capture on!" Kate fired her Vatonage Fine Styler away. Backed by Kellyn's Vatonage Styler this time, her co-worker provided a distraction by flying his Capture Disc directly at Ice, who found the Capture Line to be very annoying. But by the time Ice found what they were planning, just a mere five seconds after Kate had launched her Styler, it was too late.

"No!" Ice shouted, and it looked like he was about to personally handle the situation.

Unfortunately, he was halted by Kellyn and Kellyn's Pokémon. Ice merely shrugged as he watched Kate victoriously shout, "Capture complete!"


Right before their eyes, the Sinis Trio were each breaking into mass sweats as they saw the Pokémon Top Rangers release their three respective Pokémon altogether. One by one, they fled the area. First Rhyperior, then Magmortar, and then finally Gallade.

It was such an embarrassment to have two Top Rangers, severely outnumbered in strength and manpower, to have defeated the three Pokémon powerhouses right there. Now, with the Pokémon going AWOL, there was no way to stop Isaac from disabling the Circuit Ball's trap.

"I – I don't believe this…" Ice said, stunned.

"Our Boss! He is on top! Of here!" Heath switched his priorities, and dashed out of the room in an instant. "Protecting him we must do!"

But as mentioned, it was a major embarrassment to be felled by Top Rangers in spite of having a trio of powerful Pokémon, so Lavana dismissed the thought of following Heath.

"I'm too ashamed to be showing my face to Boss at this point!" she screamed. "Not after being beaten by these pests again and again once more!"

Lavana ran away from the room, not considering again another thought to support Altru's objectives. That left only Ice in the room, and his face still retaining some coolness.

"You pair of spineless losers," he directed at Kate and Kellyn, "that battle was only for show, it was only to buy and kill some time, you know. Unless by some unknown reason they (Kate, Kellyn, and Isaac) can crack my trap program, the three of them are stuck here. Speaking of which, I can still see Isaac over there for the first time breaking a sweat."

True, even Kate and Kellyn were surprised that Isaac was sweating. He, Isaac, had helped design the Incredible Machine after all, had maximum understanding of physics, and was the smartest person Kate and Kellyn knew (second to the top-grade researchers and scientists at the Ranger Union).

"Wha… hey…" Ice's eyes started to widen, "Isaac? Why did you just crack a grin?"

Isaac glanced at Ice briefly with the same grin, and returned to his analytical engineering.

"It… it can't be!" Ice stepped back. "You cracked my program?! That's unbelievably fast!"

Kate looked at Kellyn, who just wiped some sweat from his forehead, and returned her sights to Ice, saying, "What did you expect? This is Isaac we're talking about. He's one of our elite –"

"Having a boy genius as an enemy is that bad after all…" Ice interrupted. Reaching into his coat pocket, he said, "Here! Take this Yellow Gem! Take it and get out of here! At once! Just promise me that you will never come after me!"

He took out the glimmering crescent-shaped gem, threw it onto the ground, and tore off for the stairs and possibly flying out of the tower, since the ground floor was secured by Ranger and local authorities.

"We finally have it back," Kate stated as she walked over to pick up the hard-worked painfully-earned Yellow Gem back into her hands. "Here, Kellyn, you hold the gem for now. I'm going to have to work on destroying the Circuit Ball."

"Eh…? Why me?" Kellyn asked, a little tired, but he took the gem anyway.

Kate and Kellyn then walked to where Isaac was still standing. It appeared that he had finally had the program business over with, with Isaac walking away from it.

"The program is currently disengaged," he breathed a sigh of relief, and wiping off the sweat from his head. "It's now ready for a Target Clear, Kate. Do you have the Ampharos I asked for?"

"I do," Kate replied. She waved a hand at the Ampharos behind to aim at the blue Circuit Ball. "When you're ready, fire away, Ampharos."

Seconds later, a Thunder attack landed powerfully on the weakened Circuit Ball, and energy raced into the core of the Circuit Ball. Energy exploded from the inside and wrecked and shattered the Circuit Ball into pieces.

"Awesome," Kellyn complimented. "With the last of the barriers down, we can head upstairs."

What the what? Isaac thought, looking at the Circuit Ball in a strange way. "Kate! Watch out!"

He leapt and pushed Kate onto the ground (ouch!) and the Circuit Ball device exploded. If not only Kate and Isaac, her Pachirisu was thrown to the ground by the explosion.

Kate and Isaac slowly got up, with a surprised Kellyn in the distance, to see a burning control panel looking as if the flames were meant to intimidate. And to be honest, it did.

"You okay?" Isaac looked at Kate and her Pachirisu beside him.

"I'm… fine," Kate slowly said, trying to catch her breath from the shock she received upon her hard landing on the ground. Her Pachirisu slowly got up too, but a little faster than Kate given that Pachirisu had experience taking damage in the field.

Isaac got up too to look at the flamed panel, studied it briefly, and then reported, "That trap had a time delay on it. I didn't expect Ice to have mastered programing so sophisticated… Those three, they've really picked the wrong path didn't they? Not unlike me."

The post-battle atmosphere was broken with a ringing from the Vatonage Stylers. Kate and Kellyn had to switch them on to a channel to establish contact.

"Report," Kate said, but not in a demanding way but rather in an anticipating way. To add to that, she asked in a begging-like tone.

"Uh… this is Sven," the Top Ranger said. "The barrier's final layer is gone! Now, there is no barrier to keep us down. We can now approach the Shadow Crystal whenever we want, and Operation Brighton will still commence now! I'm a little worried about Keith, but he's a Top Ranger nonetheless."

Kate and Kellyn wore looks of worry at the sound of that, in which Sven noticed.

"Ah, he'll be fine, just watch," Sven added.

Before Kate and Kellyn could finish up their voicemail channels, they were interrupted by another incoming voicemail.

"Voicemail! Voicemail! Professor Hastings here!" a rushed voice, but familiar, sounded through the open channel. "Sven and Wendy! Can you hear me from above the tower?"

"Yes sir!" the simultaneous reply came from both Sven and Wendy.

"Here are your orders, in light of the now disabled barrier," Hastings briefed. "Encircle the tower with the gems in hand, and get as close to it as possible. Even the two gems with you should have a significant impact on the Shadow Crystal at least!"

"Roger!" Sven affirmed.

"Understood!" Wendy affirmed too.


In the skies outside, it was clear that the blue barrier located at the core of the tower was gone. A pair of Staraptors flew closer to the darkened Shadow Crystal.

"Airborne!" Wendy rallied, soaring a few loops with her Staraptor before flying directly in the direction of the massive atrocity of a blackened crystal.

But when Wendy and Sven approached the premises of Altru Tower, they were thrown off by the shaking and rumbling of the structure, which forced the Staraptor to retreat.

"Whoa!" Sven held tightly to his Staraptor, while looking at the tower. "What's going on in there?"


"THIS IS ALTRU CORE COMPUTER. THIS IS ALTRU CORE COMPUTER. THE INCREDIBLE MACHINE'S POWER HAS REACHED LEVEL 2. POWER LEVEL NEEDED FOR LEVEL 3 IS… 99% MORE. 98% MORE. 97% MORE. 96% MORE. 95% MORE. 94% MORE. THERE ARE NO ^v^v^. BZZZZZZZZZZZ GTZZZZZZZZZZ."

Just hearing the sounds of an ever-growing-more powerful mechanism was fearful to anyone. For Isaac, Kellyn and Kate, as well as the Pachirisu's, Grotle, and Kirlia, they shuddered at the sound.

No… Isaac thought.


The Operation Brighton series will be continued.