I was going to write this scene a touch later but doing some editing, writing and whatever, things changed. Thought it was time to take a risk and jumpstart things a little earlier than I planned. I'm thinking a number of you will be satisfied. *smirks* The beginning chapter is a bit slow but just hold out till the end! There's your real surprise.
Read, review and enjoy!
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"Ugh…..groan…."
Kate pried her eyes open after sleeping for, what seemed like, forever. This wasn't her room at base. No this was the medical center room. And her shoulder…yikes! It hurt. A LOT. It was bandaged up though Kate could feel the deep scratches underneath. What the heck happened?
A soft snore came from some feet away, where a luxray slept. The memories returned to kate once more. She found the luxray somewhere in Vien forest, revitalized his electric energy and tried to get him back to base. How Kate got back and when she collapsed was a mystery, however. The whole thing was a bit hazy.
"Nnnnggg…"
That muffled voice came from next to Kate. She hadn't noticed before but a head rested on the bed, right next to her. It was Keith, peacefully dozing away. Kate blushed, realizing Keith looked so….sweet. He was adorable when he was sleeping. All relaxed and dreaming like that. Kate brushed a few strands of red spikes from his face, feeling how soft his skin was. Keith's breathing was quiet but could be heard. Even if he wasn't a guardian angel, Kate would still think he was an angel sent from above. How else would you explain him?
Sudden pain interrupted Kate's thoughts. She gripped her head and breathed hard. It was a sharp headache with sore spots all over her body. Probably used too much energy the previous night. Sometimes that would come back and hit Kate later, like a freight train collision. Kate carefully shifted her weight and slipped out bed, careful so Keith wouldn't wake up. The aches made it hard to walk somewhat. Kind of like an all-body sunburn. Only worse.
"Morning!"
Kate was greeted by Elaine, who came down the stairs.
"You seem to be better." She said.
"Wish I felt better." Kate sighed. "What the heck happened last night? I remember saving a luxray and then…."
"That's Sven's partner, Zap. You two were unconscious in the middle of the forest and Sven found you both. So he brought you back to base and now he's staying over. I think he and the other guys are down in the main room." Elaine told her.
Minus Keith, Kate added mentally.
"By the way, Barlow's ordered for you to take a day off even if you're awake." Elaine added.
"WHAT! No way!" Kate groaned.
"You did sustain a heavy injury." Elaine reminded. "We don't want your arm acting weird during captures."
….
"Fine." Kate gave in. "I'm going for a shower."
"You know how to unwrap bandages and apply new ones?" Elaine asked.
"Yep. I'm good." Kate gave a thumbs up as she started heading upstairs.
The girls room was empty. A small explosion and 'yipe!' seconds after entering the room told Kate that Luana was in the kitchen. Annie, who Kate guessed was starting up the computer, was probably handling another mess. Kate gathered up some casual clothes and disappeared into the bathroom. Throwing her shirt off to the side, she slowly unwrapped the bandages.
Deep gashes of dark red. Even the slightest touch from her finger made Kate shiver, jumping back at the stinging. Zap had struck her good. Poor luxray didn't mean to. Still…it really hurt. Kate shed the rest of her clothes, hopped in the shower and blasted the water on. The hot water felt good on those muscle aches. Not so good on that shoulder injury. For several minutes, Kate soaked up the hot steam and tried to relax.
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"GROAN…"
"Well good morning sunshine."
Keith was greeted by all sorts of taunts from the other guys in the main room. Redhead yawned and tried his hardest to wake up. Kate had gotten up at some point and, while she probably wasn't in danger, Keith wanted to know where she disappeared to.
"If you're looking for Kate, Elaine said she saw her head upstairs." Sven told him.
Question answered.
"I gave you both the day off so she can recover." Barlow said.
"Thanks." Keith responded sleepily. "Hey wait…why me too?"
"So lil ol Kate doesn't get too lonely." Crawford smirked.
"I'll shave that afro off the moment I wake up…" Keith mumbled.
"Already called dibs on that!" Annie called from the operator station.
"Hey I was first!" Luana's voice shouted from the kitchen.
"How many people have you ticked off today, dude?" Sven asked the afro-ranger.
"Heh…" Crawford sweatdropped.
"Rowl!"
From the back, a luxray came charging into the main room. Sven laughed as Zap tackled him head on and they collapsed to the floor.
"Hey bud!" Sven grinned, scratching his fur. "Good to see ya!"
"Seems like Zap's better already." Barlow commented.
"He's a tough one. Nothing gets this pokemon down so easily." Sven chuckled. "We are ready for action!"
The guys started talking when the phone rang. Annie answered it and asked for Keith to come. Keith, wondering who on earth would be calling, took the phone and went into one of the back rooms.
"Keith!"
"Oh hey Issac!" Keith recognized. "Long time no see eh? What's new?"
"A lot. Listen, I've been monitoring the blood sample from Kate." Issac replied. "More of those cells are starting to mutate into some unusual formations. Judging on the data, there'll be a slight speed-up in Kate's little 'issue'."
"And by that you mean…?" Keith gulped.
"I mean that for a brief moment, Kate's powers will progress faster than usual. Which will cause some side effects. Abnormal ones at that, seeing how the cells are rapidly growing. Like there's a glitch in her system. I don't know the effects but during this short time, I want you to record anything unusual and report it to me. This could help the research." Issac explained.
"Oh boy…" Keith sighed. "Will do, Issac. And this'll be brief? Right?"
"I'm confident in that. Two or three days. A week at worst." Issac told him. "….hm?...sorry! Professor needs me. Talk to you soon, Keith!"
Keith hung up. He put the phone on the kitchen table before going upstairs to his room for a nap. Ok…so Kate will be experiencing 'glitches'. Whew. He could handle this. Just support Kate, mask anything unusual from the others and act normal. What could possibly go wrong?
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Ssssshhhh! Drip….drip….drip….
Shower, done. Kate grabbed her towel and started to dry off. Nothing like hot steam to remedy sore muscles. She still ached a bit but better off than when she first woke up. And yet…something didn't seem quite right to Kate. Couldn't figure out what it was. Kate felt like a tiny piece of her just wan't…well…herself, per say.
"Eh. Probably nothing." Kate thought, stepping out of the shower.
She continued to dry off as she slipped some clothes on. After dressing, Kate looked into the mirror, ready to do her hair, when she froze. On her head…were those…? No. No way, it couldn't. The steam was messing with Kate's mind.
Kate cautiously reached up and felt around her head. Oh heck no! Impossible! No no NO! Kate had Pikachu ears growing from the top of her head! Actual ears of a Pikachu! And…hold on. There was a strange tingle coming from her feet. Kate watched her left foot become like a pikachus while the other flickered between one or the other.
"What's happening to me…?" Kate whispered, suddenly terrified.
Was she turning into a giant Pikachu? Or just become half Pikachu, half human? Maybe just the ears and feet? Gah! Kate felt so lost and confused. This never happened before! Her powers, which probably had to do with it, never acted up like this!
Kate needed some air and time to think. She did have the whole day off from being a ranger. …wait….DAMN IT! The base would see the ears! Whether they'd make fun or ask questions, it wouldn't be a pleasant scenario. Kate would have to hide out somewhere, avoid contact with the others as much as possible. The weird 'pikachu' thing could blow over in a day or two.
Quick check to see if anyone was in the room or would come in. No? Good. Kate slipped in and started rummaging for stuff. Shoes were no problem. Her left hand glitched for a second before returning to normal. Better safe than sorry. Kate tossed some gloves into her pockets. But what about those ears?
Baseball cap? The ears blew them right off. No luck with the beret or bandana. Either nothing fit around the ears or those darn ears made the hats fly off Kate's heads. Not even the outlandish hats would work. All that was left was a yellow wool hat Luana was meaning to toss out.
…hold on.
That was it! Kate grabbed some scissors from Elaine's drawers and, carefully measuring, cut two holes in the top of the hat. She slipped the hat over her head, with the ears poking through the holes. Perfect! Looked legit! Like a fangirl Pikachu hat! And no one could ever suspect anything weird.
"…although…" Kate thought, scratching her head. "I see why Luana wanted to throw the damn hat away. TOO ITCHY!"
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"WAKE UP BUDDY!"
Keith awoke to a water gun attack. He sputtered, coughed and bolted straight out from bed, where a certain buizel grinned proud.
"What the hell!" Keith snapped.
"Hey I barely get a cameo as it is these last few chapters." Wave shrugged. "You've been napping for the entire day anyways."
"ENTIRE DAY!" Keith choked on air.
"Yeah the author just can't move a story along now can she?" Wave rolled his eyes.
"Aw geez…" Keith grumbled as he ran out the door.
There goes spending a whole day relaxing and keeping an eye on Kate. His angel alert didn't sense anything wrong. Although now it did have a tiny sliver of feeling, like Keith automatically knew Kate didn't feel well. Something was off. Made him feel nervous, drove him to go find the girl.
"Hey guys!" Keith ran into the main room.
"You've been out the entire day, red." Elaine said.
"What'd I miss?" Keith asked.
"Sven and Zap left. Apparently there's a rumor that Team Rocket stole design plans from Team Plasma and will use them here." Luana handed Keith a newspaper. "Sven was assigned to check it out."
"Let me see…" Keith scanned the news. "What the…? They're going to use this?"
"Minus the fact this could potentially kill people and pokemon, it's cool isn't it?" Crawford looked at the picture over Keith's shoulder.
"It'd be a joy to take apart and study…" Elaine sighed dreamily.
"I thought Team Galactic would've stolen the plans. Seemed right up their alley." Annie shrugged.
"You'd think so." Crawford agreed.
"Huh." Keith then remembered. "Hey where's Kate?"
"She went out exploring the area." Luana replied. "Wore the cutest hat!"
"Yeah those Pikachu ears looked kind of real. Not that bad a hat." Elaine commented.
Keith left the base. He'd use his own angel senses to find her anyways. Didn't take much concentration as it used to. Keith immediately locked onto her signal and followed it through Vientown. To the west, past the trees and to Nabiki beach. It looked so peaceful and colorful during the sunset (yikes…slept longer than he thought…). A few krabby came out and blew bubbles into the wind, making the scene so pretty.
At the end of the beach, tucked in a corner by herself, was Kate. She wore the hat the others mentioned plus some gloves. Kate was rolled into a ball, looking very depressed. Keith's heart ached to see her in pain like that. Without thinking, he walked over and sat down in the sand.
"Hey." He said.
"Keith!" Kate looked shocked to see him. "When did you…?"
Keith listened to her try to stammer out questions. Her cheeks were red; fever maybe? Was Kate sick? Other than the cheeks she didn't appear to be ill. Keith looked into her eyes, reading a variation of emotions. Most of it panic, sadness and loneliness. Out of nowhere, it felt like he was taken over by a strange feeling. What other way to explain it? Desire. Keith's entire being suddenly pulled toward this frightened girl, like a giant electro-magnet. This uncontrollable, inner 'wanting' made Keith want to scream. Yet…he also wanted to succumb to this strange emotion as well.
"Kate…" Keith sighed, mentally repressing it all. "I know something's wrong. And…and I want you to talk to me."
Kate started shivering. She seemed almost surprised that the redhead managed to figure her out.
"Please Kate. I can't stand to see you in pain like this. Drives me crazy to see you struggle on your own with your problems." Keith went on. "You've been alone with this for years. Now I'm here and I want to help you with whatever issues come up. It's my job to protect you as your guardian angel. But I'm also your friend. And I care."
Though he sounded just fine, Keith was struggling to spit out those words as he was fighting a tsunami of emotions. His heart was pounding so loud, he worried all of Almia would hear it. It was starting to get harder and harder to breathe.
Meanwhile, Kate suspected nothing. She was staring at Keith would those big, blue eyes that somehow made the internal battle worse for the redhead in question. Like she was judging Keith, wondering if what he said was true (every word of it). She trusted him. They both knew it. Each had complete trust and friendship in the other. Silent, Kate took off her shoes, hat and gloves.
Keith gapsed, blood ran cold. Her ears….those feet and hands…and the cheeks…they all resembled that of a pikachu!
"Kate…" Keith's eyes widened. "What happened to you…?"
"I don't know…" Kate whimpered, eyes growing moist. "I-I-I took a shower and then when I got out…the…e-ears…and feet….sniff…"
"Oh Kate…" Keith's voice grew soft.
DAMN IT! Keith's feelings were turning into a hurricane! Each passing second grew harder and harder to resist. What was wrong with him? And why did Spenser and Sven's words echo around inside his head?
"I…I'm a freak…" Kate trembled.
"Kate, no…" Keith reached a hand for her shoulder.
"No one would ever want me. I…I look like a monster…" Kate sniffled.
"Damn it, Kate! I WANT YOU!" Keith blurted out abruptly.
Something within Keith snapped. Like a dam unable to contain the flow of the water or a ticking time bomb exploding. Keith couldn't even control his own actions anymore. He grabbed Kate's hand, pulled her as close as possible, closed his eyes and kissed her.
He did it.
Keith was kissing Kate.
All those feelings he had earlier were now pouring into the girl, through their lips. The mystery of Kate's lips, one that plagued Keith for some time, was finally resolved. They were so soft and warm. Felt like heaven! There was no other joy than what he was feeling that exact moment. Time didn't seem to exist. Had it been a few seconds or a few decades? Eventually, Keith gave a shaky sigh and let go, opening his eyes.
Kate seemed to be hardly breathing. Her eyes were locked onto Keith's with complete shock over what he just did. And the cheeks almost appeared to be redder than before. Aw great. He totally ruined it. Keith had thrown away all common sense and acted on his inner desires. Of course he'd forget that Kate was all part of this.
"K-Keith? What…." Kate whispered, still dazed from the sudden kiss attack.
No point in hiding things now.
"Kate? I…I…" Keith swallowed any pride he had left. "I like you. A lot."
The girl gasped, her entire face blushing deeply.
"I know I'm an angel and you're human. But I can't help it! Even after I've tried to resist, I can't help but really like you, Kate. You're sweet, kind, funny and so full of energy. Even as a part-pikachu, you're still a beautiful princess." Keith confessed, his own face flushed. "All I want is to be near you, to hold you close. I want to protect you and make you happy, as your friend, angel and more."
"Keith…" Kate smiled, another couple of tears escaping those blue orbs. "I like you too. I never dreamed you'd feel the same way."
Keith smiled as well, close to crying. He pulled Kate into a warm hug, wrapping his arms around her petite body. She liked him back. His feelings were returned! What an amazing feeling! It was as if Keith were on top of the world!
"But…what about your angel code? You can't…your wings…" Kate whispered, staring up at his face.
"The angel code just says about loving a human." Keith smirked. "Nothing about like or care."
"Do I sense a loophole?" Kate smirked.
"You do." Keith stroked her hair. "No one will ever have to know about this, sweetheart."
"…I like you."
"I like you too."
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And thus it happened! Keith finally confessed his feelings to Kate! With 'like' being the loophole, he and Kate could (technically) get away with this! Question is for how long? Would anyone, angels perhaps, find out and do something? Or would these caring emotions grow out of control?
Stay in tune for future chapters for answers! Next update, coming up!