POKEMON RANGER, OUT OF THE DARKNESS - Chapter Eight: Zapdos.


The library in the Ranger School was crowded with students struggling to study for the final exams that were approaching, which unfortunately for some, were completely written tests. Almost all the students there were frantically behind on their studying, having lost months of preparation to the many long talks with friends concerning where they were going after Graduation, none ever thinking of what would come before it. Only one student was completely prepared for the exams and he was the only one who was in the library of his own will, sitting in the corner researching while other students sat around tables and had books piled before them. The mushroom-haired blond looked up for a moment toward one of the nearer tables, where a small hoard of students was crowded around three other students, two girls and a boy.

One of the girls, a blond, was reading a book on Operating Basics idly and ignoring the crowd that was watching the other two. She was leaning back in her chair, keeping her balance by leaning against a table behind her. Her pleated hair was pulled back in different areas to give her a unique look and her mouth was curled into an amused smile as she listened to the many students talking while she read. Her brown eyes were sparkling as she lowered the book to glance at her two friends, before shaking her head in amusement and beginning to read again.

The other two, the boy and the other girl, were playing "Spinz", a kind of Top game that they had made up with paper tops that had taken the school in their grip and were holding the students' attention with the power of a fad. The girl playing Spinz, whose brown hair was pulled up in pigtails, winked her blue eyes with a grin toward the boy as she readied to send out her three tops. The red haired, brown haired boy grinned back and flicked out his tops first, using a peculiar twist of his fingers that made the tops spin quickly. The students gathered around the two gave gasps of appreciation.

The girl used a simple spin twist on her tops, sitting back and watching the tops spin, hers a bright whirl of colors and his tops being of a dark blue color. The rules of the game said that as soon as the first top was out, the others had to follow and then it was all up to which tops fell first. No interruption could make the tops fall or the game would have to be started over.

The girl chuckled as first one, and then another, and then two more of the tops fell, leaving only one on each side. They carefully plucked the fallen tops out of the way of the remaining ones and sat back again, waiting patiently. His top was still spinning relatively straight, while hers was tipping to different sides, but still spinning. He was confident his would last longer than hers; it better, he thought frantically, looking at the bets piling up.

"Who do you think is going to win? Keith's top seems like physics would be on his side."

"And did you see that flick he used to send it out? I've never seen that done before. My money's on Keith."

"Nah!" one girl called from the back, "Kate's got a record going! She hasn't lost one yet with that simple spin of hers!"

"Eh, the girl's got the game rigged." One of the boys scoffed. "No way she could have a perfect record like that without some catch."

"I don't have the game rigged, thank you!" Kate snapped with a grin to the boy, "I just have impeccable luck these days." She turned her attention back to the tops, hers acting like a weathered old bulldog: still fighting and holding on. She shifted her gaze to the dark blue top to see it hopping slightly, moving from side to side even though it was still standing. It hopped toward her top as though it was going to land on top of it, caught an edge on the table, flipped over and ground to a stop.

She returned her gaze to her top, which revolved a few more times before also settling down. A small smile appeared on her face.

"Told you!" the girl called quietly again, grinning as she collected the bets she had accumulated. Keith blinked a few times as he looked at the still tops, before he picked up his top calmly, stood from his seat, and strode from the library.

Kate packed up her tops and stood, looking at the blond girl who had gotten ready to go after Keith, "I'll talk to him, Rhythmi. He's just a bit of a sore loser. I know where to find him." She walked out of the library, grinning confidently.

Rhythmi shook her head, smiling fondly; she knew that despite the fact that neither of them would ever be guilty of studying, they were going to get some of the highest scores on the test. Who would get the higher of the two? Hard to say, but she was betting on BOTH of them getting SOLID 98 percents. A tie this late in their rivalry would be an interesting situation to witness.

The boy in the corner lowered his gaze back to his book, a small, goofy grin on his face as he shook his head. He had a feeling that even though the two Spinz champs were goofing off at the moment, the persistent nature of the two would drive them further than anyone else. Well, besides him, of course.

Kate wandered out of the school doors with a small, satisfied smile on her face and looked around the courtyard before stepping slowly down the stairs in the front of the school. She smirked as she looked around at the Bidoof, Zubat, and, her favorite, the single Budew that she had managed to catch on the way to her One-Day Internship. She smiled slightly at the group before heading off toward the southeastern area of the school, Ascension Square. Keith was notorious for going there when he wanted to be alone.

Stepping carefully down the steps, she looked toward the Pledge Stone, under which a shadowed person sat. She assumed it was Keith.

"Hey! Will you quit being such a sore loser and just accept that I'm luckier than you?" she called out to the shadow. Hopping down the last few stairs, she blinked as she realized that the shadow wasn't Keith. A man sat hunched over beneath the shadow of the pledge stone, bleeding harshly. A Scizor stood above him, its claws covered in blood.

"Sir?" she whispered in fear, her blue eyes darting between the man, and the blood on the ground, and the Scizor, which had turned its attention to her. With nary a warning, the Scizor disappeared from sight as it dashed around her, a red blur. The warning that it was against her came when the sharp pain jolted in her stomach, just beneath the ribs. She gagged and gasped as blood trickled down from her mouth.

"You…" she whispered, her eyes narrowed, "…damn… bastard!" she released her Capture Disc and closed her eyes momentarily, wiping her mouth before--

A flash of a capture disc moving around…

--The image was fading, she couldn't breathe; the Scizor was holding her in an iron grip by the throat--

A glimpse of yellow and black…

--A frantic voice yelled out, "KATE! Keith, help her!"--

Dodging a Lightning Bolt…

--The Scizor let go of her with a grunt as she fell to the ground beside the dead man, catching a small glimpse of another man sneaking toward the stairs dressed in black. She snarled in pain as Keith captured the Scizor--

"Kate!" Keith yelled to her, "Focus!"

Kate shook her head of the memory, clearing her mind for a second before focusing on the there and then, capturing their latest legendary, Zapdos. Four small stones jingled in her pockets, and she was determined to either find out the use of them or at least add another one of them. Keith was determined to help her, but if she couldn't help herself then he was doing nothing.

Kate's attention was divided by something that he couldn't possibly know about, but she still was a better Ranger than he was.

The capture discs chased each other around the bird, the third, oddly infuriating bird that the duo had faced together. A few seconds later, both of their Stylers beeped out the 'OK' signal and Kate sat down on the charged ground, an odd pain starting up in her stomach. She held her gut tightly and groaned, remembering only one pain like this before. That Scizor. That damned Scizor.

She felt Static Electricity spark up through her body and frizz out her hair, and sighed as Keith walked over to her.

"Old pains die hard." She muttered as he helped her up, a ghost of a grin on his face. She looked at him and raised an eyebrow, "What are you grinning at?"

"Your… your hair!" he squeaked, holding down a giggle. Stuck between two horrors – of whether her hair was as bad as it seemed and the thought of Keith giggling – she smacked him on the shoulder and snorted, "You dork, you should look at your own hair!"

Keith helped her to her feet and smiled at her, before moving her over to the electric bird. Zapdos looked at her for a moment before starting to hover a few feet off the ground, leaving a small, round stone on the ground beneath it. Kate watched as it flew backwards a few feet before moving to pick up the stone.

"That makes five." She muttered as she tucked it away with the others. "We've faced five legendaries and we still haven't got an answer. Why is it so hard to find the one we need?" she whispered in distress. She almost didn't notice when Keith put an arm around her reassuringly, or when Zapdos hovered a little higher and started looking toward the other two islands. She did, however, notice the loud squawk that Zapdos gave out before disappearing in a spark of electricity.

Looking toward the darkening sky, Keith walked her over to an overhanging rock and began setting up for a night stay. Kate looked up at the rising moon and estimated the days until it would be full. About a week and a half.

Keith looked at her and asked her to let him borrow her Chimchar, and she looked over to him before letting Chimchar out of his Pokeball. Chimchar set the fire alight and chattered happily, eager to help in any way possible. Kricketot and Starly burst out of their Pokeballs, as did Cranidos, who let out an odd mixture of a growl and a groan. She looked at Cranidos for a second before recalling all of her friends, shrugging and lying down near Keith, closing her eyes with a sigh, and pushing the odd feeling in her stomach away.

Even though she didn't want to sleep, she couldn't resist the lulling crackle of the fire. Her eyes fluttered open a couple of times before she finally fell into a deep sleep, and her breathing slowed.

---

Chaos reigned around her as she realized that two familiar forms floated before her. Barlow and Luana. She had nearly forgotten that Luana was next to go into the darkness. She watched sullenly as Luana nodded her head sadly toward her, realizing that she had no power over this place. Barlow, however, looked at her sullen form and immediately began yelling to her for help.

"I can't." she called back, tears tugging at her eyes, "I don't know how to help." She wiped her cheeks of tears and sighed, looking up again at Barlow, "You're going to wake up soon anyway."

"Not quite." A quiet voice came from behind her and the all too familiar gaunt visage of the Dark-Kate appeared from the blackness. Kate looked at her in confusion. "You need to be kept on your toes after all. She goes for Zapdos. He goes for your next adversary." The darkness closed around both of the remaining former team members as they panicked, and Kate snarled in pain, "You said only she would go!"

"Times change." The Dark-Kate said slowly, stressing each syllable, before giving a ghostly grin, an evil one, "And you know how we don't forgive. After all, I seem to remember you were perfectly willing to leave Mr. Hall and his assistant here with us." The gaunt mirror image of her face broke out into a tired frown, as if fighting off the evil grin from before, "No, no more control… you need to fight it…"

The voice had changed to a weak one, and the eyes had changed too. Fear now resided in the eyes that looked toward Kate, and the darkness flowed around her and consumed her again.

She disappeared from sight and left Kate, sobbing, alone in the black.

---

Sitting up made pain shimmer down her back, and she realized with a jolt that it was still near midnight. Keith was still asleep, a fact for which she was very thankful, and she lowered herself again before staring at the still glowing embers. She thought a moment before sighing softly and raising herself to her knees, before crawling out from under the overhang and beginning to hike up toward the top of the hill. The cold midnight breeze sent chills through her arms and legs and she shivered, before pulling out her Chimchar's Pokeball.

"You may be asleep, buddy, but even asleep your body still burns hot." She released him onto a small pile of leaves and rubbed his back when he turned on his stomach. The warm fur mixed with the warm body heat and the warm, fiery looking furry tail made a great combination for her cold hands. She gently picked him up and flipped him over into her lap before rubbing his stomach lightly, enjoying a few moments with the warm little monkey. The stars above twinkled coldly down at her, and she sighed, wishing she could for once just lay back and enjoy them without having her mind plagued by something. Whatever it was, the wind, the stars, the Pokemon, she couldn't enjoy them like she wished she could.

Something tugged at the back of her mind and she instinctively looked toward the overhang. Keith… there was something slightly off about him. She looked up at the moon again and winced at the paleness of its face, realizing with a jolt that she might look the same way.

She raised a hand to touch her face and felt the flush there, though her fingers were so cold that she couldn't feel them at all. She gingerly touched her nose as if to make sure she still had one before again resting her hands against the warmth of the furry Chimchar resting in her lap.

A small crackle of electricity caught her attention and she looked over to see Zapdos watching her. She raised an eyebrow slightly before standing up and recalling Chimchar, striding over toward Zapdos before pulling out the stone he gave her and examining it. The yellow-white stone was, like the other two birds stones before it, a light color, almost transparent, but glowing with energy. She looked up at Zapdos again before sighing, "We're not done here, are we?"

"No, you still have much to face, starting tomorrow morning, your battles grow more internal…" it paused and looked toward the other islands before narrowing its eyes, "The others are awake. Tomorrow things get harsh." And with that, Zapdos flew up and disappeared in a bolt of electricity, leaving Kate wondering just what he meant by 'tomorrow things get harsh'.


A/N: Hehe, hey. Sorry for the delay and, in a sense, the slightly shorter chapter. The next chapter will make up for it, promise! It's quite the chapter actually. Ashlynn already agreed with me that I'm being evil to Kate and Keith, but these battles are what drives them closer!

So, it's that time again!

Kate: To learn today's lesson?

Keith: To attempt to escape from this place?

NO! To respond to all the reviews that I didn't respond to at first (which is all of Chapter six's reviews... -sweatdrop-)!

Chapter 7!

KatsuNoPawaa - OwO Sorry to Say, but Rhythmi is just doing her job as best friend. She's been giving them some space though, oddly enough. Me senses a big conflict with her coming up soon.

Chapter 8!

KatsuNoPawaa - OwO -is holding Le Bazooka-

Eire13 - O_o "hot situations..." ??? -confuzzled-