I'm back! Finally getting to my next chapter of this fanfiction! Getting closer to the end now :) I really hope you guys have enjoyed it thus far! I'm going back to Kate's point of view, and facing off against Ice and Lavana once again! I hope you enjoy, and as always, R&R! :)
Disclaimer: You know the drill… I do not own Pokémon Rangers, any of its characters, or any part of the Pokémon Franchise. All Pokémon Ranger games and other Pokémon games are the rightful property of Nintendo.
"Any trace of them yet?" I heard Keith ask for the fifth time in the past half hour, as Rhythmi clicked frantically around on a complicated looking map screen, typing in code, and scanning the area.
"For the last time, Keith, when I know, you'll know. Let me work," said Rhythmi, irritated, not taking her eyes off the screen for even a minute. All the Operators were working their hardest to find any sign of Ice and Lavana. We knew timing could be crucial.
Thanks to Isaac's research, alongside Professor Hastings, the Operators had a lot of technology specifically to track down soul orbs, and any black fog emissions. It was how we had always found Dim Sun before and stopped their previous plans from taking off. However, since Ice and Lavana showed up, all members of Team Dim Sun become strangely silent. Either they'd all simultaneously disappeared, or they'd gotten much better at hiding their whereabouts and avoiding our new technology.
"This is stupid! We shouldn't be sitting around here waiting! We should be out looking for them!" Keith exclaimed, frustrated at waiting around the Union, not satisfied by simply preparing ourselves and our Pokémon.
"Oh, great idea, Keith! Why don't you all just fly around aimlessly looking all over Almia for Ice and Lavana! Meanwhile, we Operators are doing all the work actually looking for them! It's not like they'd be waiting for you, and have some kind of plan in place to keep you from getting to them! It's not like if you just happen to show up, they'll attack you or anything! Use your brain, Keith! Obviously, being unseen and actually knowing where you're going is important right now!" Rhythmi snapped, still not taking her eyes off the screen for even a second to scold Keith.
"Woah, okay, chill out Rhythmi, jeez," Keith said, surprised at her outburst. It wasn't like her to just snap like that, but the situation at hand seemed to have her wound pretty tight at the moment.
"Leave her alone, Keith. She's really stressed out right now," I said, quietly, taking his hand and pulling him towards me as I continued organizing my bag.
"Oh, and I'm not? We need to find Ice and Lavana, quick!" Keith cried, urgently.
"Look, we all know that! But arguing amongst ourselves isn't going to help us find them any faster! We need to stick together on this. Until we find some sign of them, work on preparing yourself.
"I already did. My Pokémon are outside with Wendy and Sven, my bag is packed, and I'm ready. I can't wait any longer," he whined, as I double checked the contents on my bag once again.
I had additional oxygen masks for humans and Pokémon, An additional Styler than Erma gave all the Rangers in case any of ours broke during the battle, and some potions for any injured Pokémon.
"Well you're going to have to, cause we can't do anything until we actually find them," I responded calmly, closing my bag and slinging it over my shoulder.
As if on cue, the Operator next to Rhythmi piped up. "Hey, we found something!" he exclaimed, clicking on the screen even more frantically then Rhythmi. Rhythmi actually took her eyes off her screen for the first time in hours.
"Where?" she asked, as he continued clicking and typing.
"Looks like an island in the Wailmer Sea. It's uncharted, but there's a strong fog emission coming from the area.
"Oh, I see it!" Rhythmi exclaimed, scanning the Wailmer Sea on her monitor. We crowded around looking closely at the red dot that gave us an approximation of where they were based on the highest density of fog.
"Why the heck would they release fog in the middle of the sea?" Keith asked. "They must know we can find out, and it'll take hours before it reaches any land, and their aren't a whole lot of wild Pokemon around that area," he finished, curious.
"Maybe the fog can affect the water Pokémon, too," I suggested.
"Most of them don't exactly breathe oxygen, Kate. Not even Lavana and Ice are that dumb," he pointed out.
"Some of them do! Like the ones that come on land! And maybe it has a way of infecting the water; like that sludge that we get once the fog disappears. Come on! Rather than talking it over, we gotta go, now! Thanks Operators!" I cried, and ran out the door, Keith following right behind me. As soon as we got out the doors, Wendy and Sven were already securely mounted on Staraptors.
"How are we going to get to this island without being seen? It doesn't look too big," I commented, as I mounted by Staraptor with my Pokémon, and Keith with his Pokémon on his Pidgeot.
"I don't think we can be covert in this situation. We'll just have to show up and be ready for whatever they throw at us," Sven said, we nodded and took off.
As we neared the red dot on our Stylers, we began to see the cloud of black fog surrounding the small island. We all had our oxygen masks in place, when suddenly; my Staraptor was hit with a blast of water. He started flailing around in midair, trying to regain his balance in mid-air.
"Woah, woah! Calm down!" I cried, falling forward and holding tight to Staraptor as he slowly regained composure.
"Look! The water Pokémon!" Wendy cried, pointing at the sea below. Black-eyed water Pokémon were leering at us from the surface, and shooting water attacks up at us.
"Kate, looks like you were right! The fog does affect them!" Keith cried, narrowly dodging a hydro pump from an aggressive Poliwhirl.
"Come on, we'll have to do some dodging! Try to land somewhere in the trees over there, maybe Ice and Lavana won't notice us that way!" Sven cried, and as we flew closer, the water attacks grew more frequent and aggressive. We saw Ice and Lavana, as we neared the edge of the small island, but they didn't seem to see us duck into the small brush of trees, as they were paying attention to the Pokémon that were drawing nearer and nearer to Haunter's Orb.
We rushed out, our Pokémon following close behind, bursting through the thick, ugly black fog surrounding us all.
"Oh, look who it is, darling! Our good friends, the Rangers!" cried Lavana, in mock-happiness.
"Well dear, we mustn't be rude! Golem, Frosslass! Why don't you greet our guests!" cried Ice, and 2 large Golem and a Frosslass began advancing on us. We all grabbed our Stylers, and began our capture. Keith and I were taking on the 2 Golem, while Sven and Wendy encountered the Frosslass.
No matter how much we circled the Pokémon, our friendship just couldn't get through to these Pokémon. They kept fighting, no matter how many times we captured them. Our Pokémon fought as well, to hold them off, but it merely slowed them down. One of the large Golem fainted from the numerous Pokémon attacks, but the other wasn't even close to finished with us.
As Keith and I fought together, we heard Wendy and Sven cry out simultaneously. We looked over, and saw Frosslass had frozen their feet to the ground and they couldn't move.
"You got this?" Keith asked.
"Yeah, go!" I assured him, as he rushed over to defend the 2, who were trying to pull their feet from the ice that held them firmly where they stood.
Golem, swung at me suddenly, narrowly missing as I jumped back. "Piplup! Use water gun!" I cried. Piplup jumped in front of me defensively, and shot a powerful stream of water straight at Golem. Golem backed off at this just slightly, shielding itself, before becoming more enraged and running at me. I grabbed Piplup and dove out of the way. As I hit the ground, my bag flew off my shoulder, and skid across the sandy beach. I rose to grab it, but as I did, a possessed Starly swooped down to where I was, and locked it's talons around my oxygen mask, pulling it off my face and flying off with it.
I coughed as I felt the horrible fog entering my lungs, and covered my nose and mouth. I needed my bag! I broke into a run for it, but I was pulled back by Golem's strong arms, and held in place. I couldn't move! I struggled and flailed, still trying to keep from breathing in the fog, but it was in vain.
"Kate!" I heard Keith cry, as my vision began to blur. Breathing in that fog was a horrible, suffocating feeling, but I felt it begin to take effect; to take over me. My vision went black, and I felt my body go limp, and stop struggling. Golem placed me back onto the ground, and I felt rage fill my body, bitterness course through me, and hatred overcome my personality.
Even though I still couldn't see anything but blackness, I was somehow able to navigate my surroundings. I heard Piplup's concerned voice, and felt it tug at my shirt, but I simply kicked it out of the way. I heard a small cry of pain come from it, and it made me smile.
"We got her!" I heard Lavana cry out gleefully.
"Damn you!" Keith screamed angrily, still unable to pass the Frosslass and get to where I stood. I walked over to Keith and Frosslass, and I felt him grab my shoulders. "Kate! You can still hear me, right? I know you're still there, and you have to snap out of it!" he cried.
I felt myself shove him away roughly, causing him to fall to his knees. I wasn't controlling my actions or words, they just happened as if I was on some kind of autopilot, but I didn't care what happened. The bitterness I felt made me indifferent to anything I did. I didn't care if I killed Keith, or Sven and Wendy for that matter. My body seemed to know what it was doing, and I had nothing holding me back.
He get up and started towards me again. "Frosslass, use Blizzard" I heard myself command and I heard the attack as it hit. Keith cried out at the painful freezing sensation, and even without seeing it, I knew he was frozen to the spot, just like Sven and Wendy.
"Very good, Kate-noob!" Ice cried out, sounding thrilled by my accomplishment.
"Show that Ranger what you've become!" Lavana added. My body obeyed, and I felt myself throw a punch at Keith. Even without seeing, I had deadly precision and hit him right in the stomach, causing him to buckle over, wheezing. As he was catching his breath, I took the opportunity to grab his shoulders and knee him in the head as well.
Lavana laughed hysterically behind me, clapping her hands, and I was still indifferent. Indifferent to Keith's suffering, indifferent to her praise, all I could feel was undying hatred and voracious aggression that could not be satisfied. "Ka-ate," he wheezed out, "Please… have to fight this… Please," he begged. I don't know if it was the pleading tone of his voice, or the words he had just said, but it sparked something inside me, something different from the hatred.
"Kate! Finish him off!" Lavana cried, and tossed me a knife. I snapped back and caught the blade. I felt myself raise the blade, ready to kill Keith, and Sven and Wendy after that. None of them could get away now, and my indifference turned to a thrill, knowing what I was about to accomplish.
"Kate, please… I love you," Keith pleaded again. I felt that small spark again, stronger this time, but with the knife in my hand, I couldn't stop even if I had wanted to. I couldn't fight the feelings taking over me, or
I gripped the handle of the knife, and lunged at him. At the last second, right before the hit connected, Keith quickly grabbed my arm by the wrist, raised it above my head, and pulled me into him. He pressed his lips to mine, and I froze. All the negative feelings inside me began to dissipate, like water evaporating. My vision began returning, dark and blurry at first, but becoming more clear and bright as the effects of the fog wore off.
Though the feeling of his lips is so familiar to me, I felt an overwhelming feeling of love running through me. I wonder if this is how Pokémon feel when we perform captures to prove our feelings of friendship. Is this what it's like for them? I closed my eyes and let it overcome me; let the feeling drive away all the negativity brought on by the fog.
"No! Stop it! Kill him, Kate!" Lavana shrieked. I wasn't listening anymore. As I regained control of the situation, I realized what I had almost done, and quickly dropped the knife. It hit the ground with a clang, as Keith pulled away, leaving me sitting there shocked.
"I… I'm so…" I started, but I couldn't find the words. I can't believe I was so willing to kill my friends, even for a moment… I can't understand what had come over me… I was so ashamed, so disgusted at what I'd become, even if only for a short time.
"It's okay," Keith smiled, and pulled me into a hug. Wendy and Sven let out relieved sighs, and I saw Lavana's enraged face over Keith's shoulder.
"No! Tentacruel! Get rid of her!" Lavana roared, obviously upset that her plan had failed.
I felt something wrap around my ankle, pull me away from Keith and into the cold water. I shrieked as was pulled backwards, and I saw Keith try to come to my rescue, only to realize once again that his feet were still stuck to the ground.
"Frosslass, keep the Rangers frozen!" Ice commanded.
"No! Kate!" I heard Keith cry out. That was the last thing I heard before I was submerged in water. I tried to swim away, but the Tentacruel had a firm hold on my ankle, and I felt the same kind of bind encircle my waist and both of my wrists.
I still wasn't wearing an oxygen mask, and I was losing air fast. I struggled to grab my Styler and attempt a quick capture but my hands wouldn't budge as I sunk deeper and deeper. I saw my Piplup burst through the surface and quickly swim towards me, in an attempt to free me, but Tentacruel used an acid attack to divert it as it continued to drag me deeper.
I couldn't hold my breath any longer. I automatically tried to inhale, and only took in water. This was it. No one could save me this time, I'd drown. I only felt guilty that I was taking my baby with me. I'd caused so much trouble, I'd almost hurt the people I loved most, and now, my vision began to darken, and I felt my limbs go numb. My lungs ached as they filled with water and I knew I had only seconds before they stopped trying. "I'm sorry Keith…" was all that crossed my mind, before everything went black.
Another cliffhanger, of course! Hope you guys enjoyed that! Either the next chapter or the one after that will be the very last chapter! Really depends on how long the next one is, because if it's too long, I'll split it up into 2 parts. Anyways, I'm really glad you guys have stayed with me on this so long! It's been about a month and a half since I started writing, and I can't help but feel excited, yet sad that the fanfiction is coming to an end. I'm so grateful for every review, and every follower or favourite I get from you guys 3 You really are the best audience ^_^ Anyways, please review, tell me what you think, aaaaaand I'll see you in a couple days for the next chapter! :D Until then, everyone! ;)