I'd like to say sorry. I'm really, REALLY sick right now... and I'm worried that it might affect my writing as a whole... TT^TT Hopefully it doesn't... but If it does I'm really sorry!

Aqua: Squirtle-chan doesn't own Pokemon!

Chapter 35

Into the Darkness

Kate POV

Keith and I froze at the sinister sight in front of us. We stared at the Altru Building, dark clouds circling around it, blue, yellow and red rings surrounded the top of the tower.

"This doesn't look good, Kate..." Keith gritted his teeth.

As we walked closer to the building we saw a bunch of Altru Employees protesting out front.

"Hey! You in the full-body leotards! Open the doors!"

"Is this some sort of sick joke?! The company can't just fire us without warning!"

"Don't treat us workers like we're disposable! We demand an explanation for why we're being fired!"

Needless to say... The Altru employees were pissed...

They kept shouting insults at the red headed Dim Sun admin standing guard.

Keith walked straight up to the Dim Sun Admin with a glare.

"What do you want? There's no admittance unless you have authorization." The Admin told us. "Rangers with clearance to enter? Don't make me laugh!" All of a sudden he pulled out a Miniremo and a Yanmega attacked me.

It began flying around me, making me feel really dizzy.

"C-Capture on!" I shouted before capturing the Bug type.

The Miniremo exploded and the Dim Sun admin glared. "Gah! You meddlesome Rangers!" And with that he ran inside.

The two of us looked to each other before running into the building as well.

As we walked into the lobby we heard the sound of something being pushed. We turned around to see two dim sun grunts pushing some flimsy looking partitions.

"There! That ought to do it!" One grunt smiled proudly.

"That ought to keep out law-abiding employees and annoying Rangers." The other smirked.

"Wahahahaha!" The two laughed before turning to walk away, they then saw me and Keith glaring at them.

"What?! What are the Rangers doing here?!" They shouted panicking.

They turned to each other, "Run away! These barricades are barring the way!"

"I told you to hurry, but, oh, no..."

"Now what? What'll we do?"

The two of us just sighed and began walking towards the elevator where we say a dim sun grunt standing in front of the elevator.

"We knew you were coming, Rangers!" He smirked as an alarm started ringing and the room started flashing red.

All of a sudden the elevator door opened and two grunts and an admin rushed out.

"Kindly explain to me how Rangers could get this far?" The admin growled.

"You're not getting away with anything!" Keith shouted.

While Keith shouted at the Admin I noticed that we were being surrounded by Dim Sun Grunts.

"Ewww, you are so pushy and primitive! Make them go away, minions!" The Admin smirked.

"Your epic adventure ends here, Rangers!" Two Grunts pulled out their Miniremos and typed something.

A Weezing and a Skuntank attacked us.

I quickly captured the two Pokemon and the Miniremo exploded.

"You're not going to stop Mr. hall! I won't allow it!" She shouted pulling out a Miniremo, she summoned a Shiftry and two Nuzleaf.

Me and Keith quickly worked to capture the three Pokemon. The Miniremo exploded and the Pokemon ran off.

The admin backed up. "Oh, you're good, you! But beating me with your capture won't get you past us! Minions! Grab them!"

The Dim Sun Grunts started walking towards us, one grabbed me by the arm.

"H-Hey!" I panicked.

"You have no sense of honor!" Keith growled. "And keep your dirty hands off my girlfriend!" Needless to say he was steaming mad.

"TAAARGET..." A loud booming voice came out of nowhere, everyone turned towards the door. "CLEAAAR!" All of a sudden there was a loud boom. "Kate! Keith! Are you all right?!"

It was Barlow!

I smiled when I saw Barlow, Crawford and Luana standing in the entrance. The Dim Sun Grunts backed away from us.

"We Area Rangers got the call to support your Operation Brighton." Barlow walked over to us. "Let us deal with annoying dregs like these. You two need to keep going up!"

Barlow, Luana and Crawford proceeded to back the Dim Sun Members that were blocking the elevator into a corner.

"Thanks guys!" We smiled before walking into the elevator.

Keith turned to me. "This elevator...? It's got no buttons. How do we operate this?" He frowned.

"WELCOME ABOARD. PLEASE ENTER YOUR PASSWORD." The Elevators automated voice said. "WHEN YOU HAVE ENTERED YOUR PASSWORD YOU WILL BE TAKEN TO YOUR WORK FLOOR."

"Tch! Password, huh?" Keith frowned. "...Oh, hey, I know! Isaac had access to this building, so he should have a password. Let's try entering words that could be important to Isaac." He walked over to a keyboard. "Let me get myself in an Isaac state of mind... Maybe try... 'Mushroom'?"

"No..." I shook my head.

"'AAAA" Try that?"

"No" I frowned.

"I wouldn't rule out 'Dim Sun.'"

"I don't think so..." I sighed.

"Hey! What about "Melody"?"

"Yes!" I smiled.

"PASSWORD ACCEPTED. WELCOME, PROF. ISAAC. WE WILL STOP ON 9F."

Keith smiled and walked over to me.

"ELEVATOR GOING UP." We felt the elevator going up.

Keith looked to me. "That Isaac... He really does adore Melody"

I looked to him with a smile. "Yeah... He does."

"He's a good guy to care so much about his sister."

"Yeah..."

All of a sudden the elevator stopped.

"Huh? The elevator stopped." Keith frowned.

The power went out.

"Hey! The power's gone out..." Keith panicked.

I shrieked when I felt someone or something grab my ass. "Pervert!"

"Ehe... S-Sorry Katie!" Keith stammered.

"Are you all right in there? I'm here to rescue you. Hold on!" A voice shouted.

The lights came back on.

"Hahah! I lied!" An admin was standing behind us. "This is the end of the road for you two!"

We backed up.

He pulled out a Miniremo and two Dusclops attacked us.

"C-Capture on!" My face was still a little red.

I quickly captured the Pokemon.

The Miniremo exploded and the Dusclops disappeared.

"Nooooo! Please! Don't hit me! Please, spare me! Oh! I know, Rangers! I have a rope ladder right here! Please, do feel free to use it!" The Admin panicked going into the corner.

Keith rushed over to the ladder. "Come on, Kate! Let's hurry!"

The two of us climbed up the ladder. We looked around and saw another ladder to climb up.

We rushed over to the tall ladder and started climbing up. When we reached the top there was a Dim Sun Admin waiting for us.

"Fwaaaah. I'm positively worn out from waiting for you." The admin sighed.

We walked over to him.

"As Heath was saying about you, you don't look much in the way of intimidating. Yes, I suppose I can take you both out, on my own." He smirked pulling out a Miniremo and summoning three Gabite to attack us.

Keith quickly captured the three Pokemon.

"H-Heath told me wrong... You are all ridiculously powerful." And with that the admin ran and jumped over the railing.

Keith and I walked over to yet another ladder and started climbing up.

We made it to another platform and two Dim Sun Crimson Unit people dropped from the ceiling.

"I know it! I thought it had to be you! Don't you dare claim not to remember us! The Dim Sun Crimson Unit!" One shouted at me.

"Back then, we ere the same rank as minions! But now, we're considered admins! Our wizardry with makeup brought us promotions!" The other smirked.

"The humiliation you subjected us to inside Boyle Volcano... We're returning it to you!" They shouted at me before pulling out Miniremos and two Gengar attacked me.

"Eep! Capture on!" I quickly worked hard to captured the evasive ghost types... but a minute or so later the two Pokemon were caught and returned home.

"Aww, boo! My makeup's ruined again!"

"You'd better not forget about this! Even though we may never meet again!"

And with that the twosome ran away.

After what seemed like forever we had made it to the top of the elevator shaft.

"Welcome, Rangers!" An admin stood in front of a door. "I'm under orders from our leader Ice to treat you with utmost courtesy. I can offer various grades of guest services, including Courses A through C. But, for you Rangers, I think only the very best will do: The S Course. The 'S' in S Course? It stands for 'Squashed,' of course!" He smirked pulling out a Miniremo and having a Mamoswine attack us.

I quickly captured the large Pokemon and let out a sigh of relief when it ran off.

"It seems you didn't find my services to by to your satisfaction... I'm not sorry to see you go. Good-bye." We watched as the admin ran away.

The two of us found ourselves in a long winding hallway that led all the way to an open vent. I looked down and saw that there was a lot of trash and broken machine parts.

"We need to be careful when we jump down." Keith frowned.

"Yeah... On the count of 3, okay?" I smiled a bit.

He nodded his head.

"1."

"2."

"3." And with that we both hopped down into the trash filled room.

"Ugh! It smells something fierce in here." Keith complained.

"Agreed..." I whined.

The two of us walked through the door. We looked around and noticed 5 Dim Sun Grunts standing in front of a weird barrier with four glowing red lights.

We hid behind a wall and peeked around the corner, eavesdropping on them.

"Hey!" A male admin shouted. "I'm getting word that Rangers have infiltrated the building. Is the Yellow Gem secure?"

This seemed to surprise the other grunts.

"The Yellow Gem's in secure storage in the back here." The grunt from behind the barrier told the others. "This gate isn't about to open easily. There's nothing to worry about."

"Yeah, our Miniremo units are the keys to the gate. Unless the Rangers can find and beat all of usm that gate's staying shut." Another admin smirked.

"Yeah, I agree with that. Even Rangers can't take all of us out."

"Okay, everyone understand their roles? If we spot any Rangers, we nab them, then bind them a smidgen of the tight side. That done, we march them to Ice and file our report. Got it?"

"Okay!" They all shouted before walking away.

"...Oh-kay. So, now we know where the Yellow Gem is." Keith whispered to me. "That gate's supposed to open if we smash their Miniremo units. Since we're here, let's recover the Yellow Gem first."

"Sounds like a good idea to me." I smiled.

And with that the two of us went Dim Sun Admin hunting.

The first room we walked into held a female admin.

"Hah! You walked right into my trap! I'll capture you and take you in! Mr. Hall will be impressed!" She cheered before pulling out a Miniremo and having a Mismaius and a Banette attack us. We quickly captured the Pokemon and the Miniremo exploded.

"This could mean trouble for the gate..." And with that she ran from the room.

We walked out of the room to see that one of the red glowing lights was now glowing blue.

"Huh? Now, that's odd... One of the shield plates is gone... When did that happen? A malfunction, maybe?" We heard the admin behind the gate say.

We walked into a dark room.

"Wow... It sure is dark in here..." I frowned looking around.

"Guess we need to go find an electric type to light the room up." Keith sighed. "You wait here. I'll go find a Pokemon to help."

Before I could protest the red head had already out of the room electric type hunting... I sighed and decided to capture the two Pokemon in the room, Absol and Scyther.

Keith came back a few minutes later with an Electabuzz.

"I'm back." He smiled. "Hey, Electabuzz? Light the room up for me?"

"Buzz! Buzz!" The Pokemon cried out before using flash. The electric type then ran away.

We looked around for a minute to two before noticing one of the Admins hiding behind some boxes.

He rushed out from behind the boxes and started talking. "Well done, finding me. I'm impressed, Rangers. But I'm not giving up the gate!" He pulled out a Miniremo and a Espeon and Umbreon attacked us.

I quickly caught the Espeon while Keith captured the Umbreon causing the Miniremo to explode.

"A crushing defeat... I'll assume full responsibility for it...by running away!" He shouted running away in a panic.

"Just two more to go!" Keith smiled.

"Yeah!"

We continued looking around until we walked into what looked to be a bathroom... We heard a voice coming from one of the stalls. "The Rangers would never guess I've clearly taken refuge here. Oh, ssh! Not so loud, me!"

We sighed and walked up to the door and Keith knocked.

Knock, knock!

"Uh... It's occupied." The admin panicked.

Knock, Knock!

"I said... It's occupied!" He cried out.

Knock, Knock!

"Are you listening?! It's occupied! I'm not coming out unless it is raining or something!" He shouted.

"Rain? Indoors?" Keith frowned. "Hey! Look up! On the ceiling! They've got sprinklers for putting out fires! We can make it rain in here!"

"Good idea, Keith!" I smiled.

10 Minutes of Looking for a Fire Type Later

We walked into a room that was at one time blocked by a large steel beam and found that it held a Blaziken! Near the back of the room we found another Dim Sun Grunt.

"I had time to tidy the room, waiting for you interlopers to come along. Now I'm going to make tidy work of you!" The admin smirked pulling out a Miniremo and having a Bronzong and a Claydol attack us.

Keith quickly captured the two constantly teleporting Pokemon while I captured the Blaziken.

"I... got closed down!" He panicked before rushing out of the room.

We walked out of the room to hear the grunt behind the door panicking. "Hah? There's only one shield plate left?! Oh, great, what is the fate of the gate with only one shield plate?!"

The two of us looked to each other and smirked before walking back to the bathroom.

"Ready to make it rain in here?" Keith smirked.

"You bet! Blaziken use a fire attack on the smoke detector!"

The pokemon happily sent a flaming kick at the smoke detector activating it. Blaziken ran off just as it started pouring water from the sprinklers leaving everyone in the room soaking wet. I'm probably the only one who enjoyed all the water.

This surprised the grunt out of his hiding place in the stall.

"It's raining in the toilet?! You've got to be kidding me!" He shouted bolting out of the stall before turning to look at us. "Pokemon Rangers?! So you're behind this downpour! What if I catch a cold?! Ever think of that?" He shouted in rage before pulling out a Miniremo and summoning a Aggron and a Tyranitar.

I quickly captured the Tyranitar while Keith worked on the Aggron. A Minute or so later both pokemon where captured and free from control.

The Miniremo exploded meaning that the gate must be open now!

"I'm soaked and chilled to the bone, the gate's opened... It's just the worst. Ahahaha... choo!" He sneezed before running away.

"Time to get the Yellow Gem!" Keith declared before the two of us rushed out of the room and towards the now open gate!

As we made it to the door a Dim Sun Admin was standing guard, right in front of the door.

"I'm the gate now!" He declared. "Try to get past me! I dare you!" With that he pulled out a Miniremo and summoned two Blaziken.

I quickly captured the two Pokemon releasing them from control.

"Oh, no... It keeps getting worse..." He panicked before running away.

I looked to Keith. "You ready?"

He nodded his head before walking into the room.

The crescent shaped yellow gem was on a pedestal with an odd electric barrier around it.

"The Yellow Gem! It's here!" Keith grinned.

I carefully walked up to the barrier and pressed an odd button before taking the gem.

Keith walked up to me. "Now we've got everything we need for Operation Brighton!"

All of a sudden two researchers rushed over to us shouting. "Rangers! Please rescue Prof. Isaac!"

This surprised us.

"Prof. Isaac's sister Melody is being held hostage. They're threatening her with harm to make Prof. Isaac comply! He's been forced into making the final adjustments to the tower's software!" One explained to us.

"Prof. Isaac should be up on 10F. He's the brightest and youngest star among our firm's scientists. Oh, I'm sorry. I have to unlock the door for you! I'll do it right away." The other told us before running over to a monitor and typing. "Let's see... The lock's... um... Disengaged!" He turned to us. "The lock's open now. You can get up to 10F."

"We got too caught up in our own research and became blind to our actions. We failed to imagine what our research was really being used for... It's far too late for regrets, but..." The other researcher looked down in shame.

"Thank you." I smiled before me and Keith walked out of the room and towards the staircase.

We took one step onto the 10th floor before the lights went out.

"Again..." I sighed.

"Huh? Another power outage? I can't see a thing!" Keith complained.

When the lights came back on we were surprised to see 5 Dim Sun grunts in front of us.

"You walked into our ambush, Rangers!" Four of them shouted.

"Now you'll get payback for your elevator stunt." The one in the middle smirked.

They all pulled out a miniremo and summoned 5 Spinarak.

I quickly captured the pokemon and all of their miniremo exploded.

"Gaah! We've blown this chance! Retreat!" And with that they all ran away.

The first room we walked into held a poor electabuzz being held captive.

Keith quickly ordered the Absol he caught earlier break the poor Pokemon out, this seemed to shut an electric floor barrier in the hall off. Keith captured the Electabuzz. It's a good thing too because the next room we walked into was dark. So the Electabuzz was needed. One the dark room was lit up be saw yet another pokemon in a cage, this time it was an Ampharos that seemed to be draining it's energy. Freeing the Ampharos also turned off another electric floor barrier.

We walked up to the door in the middle and heard someone talking inside.

"What are you doing?!" The voice shouted.

"That was Isaac's voice! Isaac!" Keith shouted. "We came for you!"

"Hey! Keith! Kate! Waaah!" Isaac shouted in a panic.

"Isaac! Don't you care about your cute little sister? Hurry up and finish adjusting the system software!" We heard his captor say. "That's going to make Altru's birthday event a complete success!"

We gritted our teeth and started ramming against the metal door trying to force it open.

"It's no good. It won't open. It doesn't look like it will open even using a Pokemon for a Target Clear..." Keith sighed in defeat. "What am I supposed to do now?"

My styler all of a sudden went off. "Voicemail! Voicemail! Barlow here! We've arrested all the Dim Suns on the ground floor. We're about to head off for Pueltown so we can put down the troubles there. Give me a shout if you need anything!"

"Hey, Kate... I've got an idea. It's probably the quickest and the easiest way possible. I'll get in touch with Barlow." Keith smiled before voicmailing Barlow.

"Voicemail? Who's there?" Barlow answered.

"Sorry to cal you right away! Barlow, we'd like to borrow your, uh, power." Keith told him.

"My power? If you need something heavy carried, you'd want Big Bertha or Kate's daddy... Is that what you need? Or... Do you mean my trademark Field Move?" Barlow questioned.

"That's it! That's the one! We're very close to reaching Isaac, but we can't get to him.

"Gotcha. I'm on my way! Where are you two exactly?" Barlow declared.

"10F." I told him.

"...10F, okay!" Barlow repeated. "Crawford! I've got a little errand to run. You're in charge while I'm gone! Alright, Keith, Kate. I'm on my way now!

"We're in business!" Keith looked around. "Knowing Barlow, he'll be here in about five seconds, I bet."

And right on cue we heard Barlow shout. "Kate! Keith! Sorry to keep you guys waiting!" He ran up to us.

"We didn't wait at all!" Keith smiled at Barlow.

"This door here?" Barlow motioned to the door.

We nodded and got out of his way.

He walked up to it. "Hmm... That's quite the door, all right. Well, I've got to hand it to them. Altru does things right." He then backed up before shouting. "Target Clear!" He rammed the door. "...Nope. If this door were the enemy, I'd shake his hand for being so tough." He turned to us. "Kate and Keith, you two help me!"

I glanced at Keith and he glanced at me, we both nodded our heads and walked over to him.

"Are you ready?" He questioned.

"Yes sir!" We saluted him.

"All right, here we go!" Barlow declared.

The three of us did our Ranger Poses before backing up about 10 feet.

"TARGET... GROWAAAH!" We shouted before ramming our way into the room.

"Freeze, you Dim Sun goons!" Keith shouted as we broke into the room.

"Kate! Keith!" Isaac cheered.

"Rangers?!" A Dim Sun Admin shouted.

"We'll bill the Union for breaking that door. You're too late anyway. And just by a minute, too." Another admin smirked.

"Your Isaac just made the final adjustments to the Incredible Machine. Good job tweaking the system software, Isaac. And now we don't need you anymore. Do you know what that means? But of course you do. You're a boy genius, after all!" A female admin laughed.

Poor little Melody was in tears in the corner. "Isaac!"

"Melody..." He looked sadly to her.

"That goes for you gate crashers, too! This is the end for you!" One shouted pulling out a miniremo and all of a sudden we were attacked by an Alakazam, a Luxray and a Sceptile.

We quickly captured the pokemon causing the Miniremo to explode.

"This can't happen!" The admin shouted.

"Urrrggh... Is this what being tough is all about? We have no choice! We have to go to our final option! Run away!" And with that the two male admins fled.

"Wait! Don't eave me with them!" The female admin rushed after them

They were surprised when they saw Barlow standing in front of the door.

"Whoa, hold on! We're nowhere near the end. The drama's only starting." He smirked backing them into a corner.

"Isaac!" Melody cried running over and hugging her brother.

"Melody..." Isaac looked to the door. "Barlow... Kate and Keith... I... I... I completed that wicked program..."

"Save it. We don't care." Keith smiled. "You and Melody are safe. That's what matters to us. Let us Rangers handle things from here on out!"

"Then... I'll go, too!" Isaac declared. "I know my way around the tower above us pretty well. And you need to disable special software for taking the barrier down. I know how to do that." He looked to us. "Take me with you! If I'm being impediment, I'll notice it and try to stay out of your way."

"That's settled, then!" Barlow walked over to us. "It's only because of Isaac that this operation came together. I'd say he has every right to see this through to the end. I'll escort Melody back to safety in Pueltown. It'll mean dragging around those clowns from earlier, but no biggie. Kate, Keith... And Isaac! The success of Operation Brighton is in your hands! All right, Melody. This way."

Melody walked over and hugged me. "Thank you, Kate. Thank you, everyone! Isaac! When it's all over, spend lots of time with me! Promise!" She smiled before walking away with Barlow.

Barlow walked out of the room with Melody and the three admins.

We turned to Isaac.

"Isaac, let's get moving." Keith smiled.

"M-My knees are knocking, but it's only f-from adrenaline." Isaac stammered.

As we walked out of the room we heard voices shouting. "Rangers! Rangers?! What, Rangers?! Yes, Rangers! Rangers, huh? Those pesky Rangers!"

We looked around and soon found ourselves surrounded.

"Charge!" Three of them pulled out Miniremos and summoned three Skorupi.

I quickly captured the Pokemon.

"It's not over yet! Go! Over the top!" They shouted.

We turned out to see the the other three Dim Sum grunts pulling out Miniremos. This time they summoned 3 Bronzor.

Keith quickly captured the Pokemon.

The Miniremo's exploded.

"We had numerical superiority... It's frustrating... but retreat!" They all ran away.

We sighed and walked towards the staircase that had an electric gate on it.

Isaac walked over to a control panel next to the door.

"The door to the roof has to be unlocked." Isaac told us and started working towards unlocking the door.

"Rangers?! Yeah, Rangers! What, the Rangers?! Rangers! Yes, Rangers! I hate the Rangesr! Who do they think they are, the Rangers? The Rangers don't scare me!" We heard a bunch of voices come from somewhere.

We looked around and saw seven Admins running towards us.

"This is going to be your last battle. You can be sure of that."

"Go down in defeat, and grovel at our feet!" Two shouted summoning three Bellossom to attack us.

I captured the pokemon with ease.

"How about this?!" This time we were attacked by Cacturne.

Keith captured them albeit looking a bit irritated.

"This time it's serious!" The last three cried out summoning a Flareon, Vaporeon and a Jolteon.

I quickly captured the threesome.

"We're not weak! Far from it! They're just too tough!" The cried out running away.

"There! Unlocked!" Isaac smiled. "Let's keep moving!"

"Good going, Isaac!" Keith smiled putting him on the back.

"There isn't very much time left." Isaac informed us.

We walked up the stairs and onto the roof.

"I'll update Prof. Hastings." Keith smiled.

"Voicemail! Voicemail! It's me, Hastings! Hastings, I say! I got word from Barlow! Excellent work, all of you!" Hastings voice came from Keith's styler. "I'm having a Staraptor sent to you now. Keith, ride it, carrying the Yellow Gem. Join Sven and Wendy, who are on standby overhead!"

I handed Keith the Yellow Gem just as a Staraptor landed.

Keith kissed my forehead. "Be safe."

I smiled. "You too."

And with that Keith mounted the Staraptor.

"What is this feeling...?" Keith smiled. "I'm, like, excited beyond words!"

Just as Keith said this two grunts and Lavana walked out of the tower with her Magmortar.

"How about thrilling beyond words?! Hit it!" Lavana ordered.

We all turned towards her in surprised... The Magmortar charged at me and Isaac.

"Watch out!" Keith shouted knocking me and Isaac out of the way of the Magmortar, however it hit Keith instead. Knocking him clean off the roof.

The yellow gem got knocked out of his hand. "WAAAAAHHH!"

"KEITH! NOOOOOO!" I screamed as tears filled my eyes. There's no way he could have survived that! He got knocked all the way into Vien Forest! He's dead... He has to be... My Keith is dead...And it's all... Her fault... I glared at Lavana with tears in my eyes.

Another Chapter finished~!