Kate took immediate action. "Keith, you handle these guys, then search the city for any others trying to control the local Pokémon. Heath, look for any civilians in need of assistance, there may be some trapped under rubble or something else, we might've missed them. I'll look for the Rampardos." She dashed in the opposite direction as Keith stepped back and braced himself for the upcoming captures. Heath took a moment trying to figure out where to go; deciding on the port, he hurried away from Keith.
Kate made her way through the smashed buildings of Pueltown. She slowly grew discouraged as she noticed she'd already taken this path before with Heath when the Rampardos first arrived, and found it unlikely that the Debonairs would have gone that way again. She quickly backtracked and bumped into Keith.
"Did you take care of those grunts?"
"Yeah. I was looking for any others."
"Keep going. I'm gonna go that way." She headed left from where they were standing.
Meanwhile, Heath had reached the port and found two Debonairs grunts hunched over a single Miniremo. He hid behind a tall pile of crates and eavesdropped on their conversation: "I'll just tap a few buttons, and...Done! The Pokémon in the vicinity are now under our control."
Heath's eyes widened. As he was readying himself to confront the two, he spotted a hypnotized Raticate crawling toward him, baring its sharp teeth. He gulped, and in order to evade it, climbed up the crates he was hiding behind. Peering over them revealed that the grunts were still unaware of his presence. Grinning, Heath clambered to the top of the stack before launching himself to the other side, landing just behind the grunts.
They looked up in surprise. "R-Ranger!" one yelped.
"I'm on it!" The other typed in a command, and the Raticate pounced on Heath. The grunts laughed at his expense as he scrambled to get the gnawing rodent off of his shoulders.
"Off me!" he panicked, trying to swat it away as it attempted to take a bite out of his arm. The Debonairs snickered.
Eventually, Heath managed to wrestle the Raticate onto the ground, where it made some sort of hissing noise at him and scampered away. He turned to glare at the grunts. "Turn off Miniremo," he growled.
The grunts exchanged glances. "And why would we do that?" one ventured.
Heath narrowed his eyes. Rather than respond by speaking, he stepped forward and swung his arms, smashing the Miniremo to pieces with his bare hands.
The grunts stood there, mouths wide open in shock as Heath fled the scene.
Keith wandered down the streets, searching for any other grunts when he found two near the port side of the city. "Hey!"
They shrunk back as he advanced. "W-we'll do anything you say," one of them whined.
"Just keep the big Ranger away from us!" the other added.
"Big Ranger?" Keith repeated, confused. "Barlow's here?"
"He had blonde hair," the first said.
"And he talked funny!"
Keith took a moment to process what they were saying. "..Heath! Of course! You're in cahoots with him, aren't you?"
"Uhh..who's Heath?"
"I don't believe this," he muttered. "Anyway, you two are under arrest." He guided them to the Ranger Depot, where he left them tied up a smidgeon on the tight side.
Kate was running about, desperately trying to find where the Rampardos had gone. She dashed up a set of stone steps, stopping at the top to get her bearings, but was suddenly shoved to the ground.
Rolling onto her back, she squinted up at the sky and found Heath standing above her. "Sorry!" he apologized loudly, and bent over to help Kate up. Once back on her feet, she headed in the direction of the bridge above the city; Heath followed.
They slowed as they reached the center of the bridge. A squadron of grunts were milling about the bridge, but they had just two Miniremos. The Rampardos stood there in the center of all the commotion, obviously in pain, hypnotized and awaiting the Debonairs' orders.
Kate held Heath back from running into them while she simultaneously formulated a plan and eavesdropped on the grunts. "I'm telling you, we passed it already!" she heard one exclaim.
"Nonsense! It's got to be over here somewhere."
"You know, I thought it was north of Altru Park?"
Kate and Heath exchanged glances, and both knew one thing: they were after Altru Tower.
Slowly, Kate released him, allowing him to rush forward. The grunts met him halfway.
An admin stepped forward, a stern look on his face. "Get out of here, Ranger," he said in a condescending tone. "We cannot allow you to interfere with our-" He cut himself short as Heath ignored him and slinked over to a Miniremo. "Stop him!" the admin ordered his grunts in a shrill voice.
It was too late. Heath crushed the Miniremo, shaking off the pesky grunts attempting to grab him.
Kate inhaled sharply. All he had to do was destroy the other Miniremo. If all went well, Team Debonairs would be stopped here and now.
Unfortunately, it all went wrong after that.
The grunts swarmed to Heath. The Rampardos roared out in pain, and a familiar blue-clad man walked into Kate's view.
She held up her Styler arm. "Ice!"
The man in question chuckled, as if he was just told a funny joke. "Well, if it isn't Kate-noob," he drawled, a smirk tugging at his lips. "It's been a few years! How are you and your little Ranger friends doing?"
Kate's expression hardened. "We've been doing just fine. We even have a new Ranger at the Union with us. And he's going to help me take you down!"
Ice snorted. "Yeah, right. He's probably just a little kid about to..." He stopped speaking when a sickening thud was heard. The crowd of grunts parted, and Heath, blood trickling down his head, crumpled to the ground.
"NO!" Kate screamed.
Ice looked down at the unmoving man by his feet. "Heath? So that's what happened to him. He became a Ranger," he mused, and looked up at Kate. "Well, I think I shall be taking my leave now - with my Rampardos, of course." He snapped his fingers and pointed to Heath; several grunts came forward and attempted to heave him onto their shoulders. The rest began herding the Rampardos down the bridge. Ice walked a few paces to retrieve the undamaged Miniremo.
"See you 'round, Kate-noob," he called with a wink and a mock salute as he departed with the other Debonairs.
Kate fell to her knees, staring at the ground in horror. After a few minutes, footsteps were heard, and Keith appeared. "Hey," he said softly, crouching down to her level. "Kate?"
"They got away," she whispered, barely audible. "Ice got away with the Rampardos and...and..."
"And?" Keith prompted. He glanced around them. "Kate...where's Heath?"
Kate sobbed quietly.
He looked at her with pity. "Let's go back to the Ranger Union. There's nothing more we can do here." He helped Kate to stand and started slowly walking away.
She followed.