Shadows of Almia

Chapter 36 – The Dragons Risen

Kate strained to reach the next ledge as she climbed carefully to the next small bit of rock protruding from the side of the cliff. The rocks were pretty hot from that volcano that's bubbling somewhere inside this mountain, and sweat was painting her face whole. Keith was not so far behind her, also struggling to get up.

"We're almost there, are we?" Keith called to her tiredly, and he heard a grunt from her side. He was on the heavier end of the burden, with Buizel clinging onto his back as they traversed the cliff. Kate grabbed onto that final ledge, and slowly pushed herself up, and now that she was at their destination, she leaned over the edge to see Keith on his way up. Starly fluttered down to her shoulder and she gave it a small stroke on its feathery head.

"You feeling hot?" She asked it, and Starly chirped tiredly. She looked down to see that Keith was a yard away from her. Kate knew better to reach out to help him up. If they did that, it would defeat the purpose of climbing this wall, and the last time Keith tried it with her, the two of them took quite a long plunge to the ground below. Had it not been for their quick reflexes to capture the nearest Pokemon to catch them, they would have been really doomed.

Once Keith made it, the two of them made it outside to fresh air and catch their quickened breaths. They made it, and the two of them stood up and walked to the center opening to the cave, eyes trained on each other.

"Ready?" Keith asked, and Kate smiled.

"Always."

The two of them jumped at each other, and their sparring match began. It's been like this for the past few days when they came to Boyleland: in the morning they climb up here, then they spar, and climb back down before doing it again in the evening.

The match ended in a stalemate with the two of them poising their hands at each other throats, ashen dust flying in the heat. The two of them were panting for breath, but the feeling of satisfaction welled over them. The two Rangers backed away from each other, confident stares to the other. Soon they began to collapse to the ground on their knees, and they began to chuckle at the wounds the other got. It wasn't such a big deal now that they could visit the Ranger Depot here and get themselves fixed up instantly. Plus, they didn't feel anything from these minor injuries.

"That was good one," Keith sighed, looking at the clear evening sky. Today, the weather was favorable for the summer. It was no bad heat wave today like the one reported in Haruba, and no heavy blizzard in Hia Valley in the winter. Today, it was very peaceful, and it gave the two Rangers a chance to feel more relaxed.

"You've gotten better," Kate smiled, and got up to her feet. "You're probably able to hold yourself back now."

"Well, I could say the same to you," The redhead grinned. "You had to deal with two weeks of me nearly killing you. You've gotten better, probably. But we're even stronger now, and Dim Sun won't know what hit them."

Kate laughed at Keith's comment, and looked out to their view of the ocean. They could see a small heap of land that probably was the mainland of Almia. Tomorrow night, they'd be returning to the Union. They had already contact Hastings that they were returning. Everyone was cheering in the back at the time, but Hastings began shouting at them to come back soon because he finally came up with something about their counterattack. Naturally, the two Rangers gave small smiles of thanks before shutting connection abruptly.

"Come on," Kate helped him up. "Let's get back down."

Kate expelled a deep sigh as she began to rinse her entire body. As part of the last day of training, she agreed with Keith to go to the hot springs facility they had seen earlier when they came here. At first, she had disagreed since she thought it wouldn't do any good, but with Keith actually whining, really, whining to her to go, she eventually succumbed to his begging, and they went anyways. Sure enough, he was right. It was a good choice to go to the hot springs.

She was done rinsing herself, and she dried herself with the towel she was lent when she came here. The Ranger then clambered quietly into the hot water, noting how extremely hot it was. It obviously better than the scalding lava she had nearly stepped into a few days ago. She placed her towel on the edge of the pool, and sat down slowly, her back against the edge of the pool.

"Feels nice…" she noted quietly. She had been to a hot springs a few times with her family, but Karen was quite the energetic little sister, so something would go awry if they went. Now she was by herself without anyone speaking her, and no little sister trying to break her concentration. It was a peaceful feeling.

Speaking of which, her mind began to wander to other things. Supposedly, she had been rather thoughtful about Keith. Ever since their past interactions at the castle, when they came here, they decided to take separate beds, for the sake of privacy. Frankly, they seemed to less comfortable this way, and they had less sleep. Eventually, they had to agree with getting a room with one bed to share, much to their embarrassment. They asked the Operator about it, and the woman began tormenting them with teasing for the rest of the week about petty things that shouldn't be done at the time.

Now that she was done thinking, the Ranger was beginning to feel… lonely. She liked having Keith sit next to her, well, unless it was a bath, and she was completely naked, then she'd kick him out of the bath house and into oblivion. How would he even get here? She was sure the redhead was not a complete pervert and was actually trying to peek at her at the moment. If he did, and he mentioned any of it after this, she'd kill him and send him into oblivion again. He better not be a pervert.

Kate sighed again, and sunk the rest of her body until her chin was the only thing stick out of the steamy water. Only an hour passed, and she's already missing Keith. It was a rare sight. When she was still an Area Ranger, she rarely gave any thought to Keith, but when they saw each other again at the Union as Top Rangers, she began to think about him even more. It went to the point of hunting him for a week when he was shutting himself away and nearly lost Basil. She hated to admit if that was just obsession, but she really did want to find him that time.

Now they were technically by themselves in this world, and they really didn't know anyone else but each other. The Union was far away, so her friends weren't here to talk to her. There was only Keith. Lately, she could tell that he's changed significantly. It was the first time in a year she had noted this.

Before, at the Academy, Keith started out as a stuck-up jerk who really wanted to rival her. At first she thought he was a complete idiot, but after two more years of sticking to him and Rhythmi, he could tell he was quite the smart guy, and he was close enough to be her rival of sorts, but back then they were merely friendly rivals competing for the title of the best Ranger in history.

Then when they went their separate ways, they were by themselves to begin with, and fought hard to become what they are today. He changed into something different, a grown young man who had a desire to protect people and stand by friends. Now… getting cheesy, isn't she?

She thought it was a complete pain to keep thinking about him now, and she was sure this was some request from her brain to change her view. So they were quite the closest of friends since the Academy, and now they're so willing to stay in the same bed, and hug each other whenever they felt like it. Furthermore, they held each other in high regard and respected each other. It really sounded as though… they're married?

The Ranger couldn't find a good word for it, and she was going to go crazy. How was that romantically involved? She sure couldn't justify the "sleeping in same bed" idea, and hugging was quite okay for everyone, but… ugh… how to explain the "same bed" part?

"Shit," Kate said under her breath. Yeah, couldn't a better term for current state. The word just burned on her tongue. Her mind was currently really pushing it and telling her to just say it to herself, and admit it. She liked Keith, and obviously, he liked her back. There. Simple.

"No, it's not," She growled to herself. This was not simple, romantic relationships were never simple to begin with… she didn't want to justify her relationship with that redhead. At all.

Kate then noticed that she had forgotten the time, and she gawked at the clock. Slowly, but in a hasty manner, she got out of the hot springs, and wrapped a towel around herself. Her mind was reeling this time, wondering how the hell she managed to stay that long in the hot water without knocking herself out.

Keith was settled on his end of the hot springs, a folded towel placed on his head. Usually, he'd be teased for having spiky hair, and the fact that possibly he could stab someone with it. Of course it didn't hurt; he could only laugh at the people who even came up with that idea. See? The towel wasn't getting stabbed, and had no holes in it. Problem solved.

The redhead hoped that Buizel wouldn't do anything stupid in their room and wreak havoc in the hot springs facility. Kate's Pokemon were there, too, specifically Starly. With Starly around, the Pokemon were usually more behaved, and less destructive. Luckily, they haven't evolved into more powerful forms, so the worst they could do was break a table or two. He then blanched at the thought of Buizel as a Floatzel and just blasting apart the building with a strong water attack while in the midst of a pillow fight with the other Pokemon. He palmed his face. Hopefully that didn't happen. Just hope for the best.

Time has flown by so fast, and he was quite happy that he could suppress his own strength. Of course, the thought of holding back was quite daunting, and he hoped he wouldn't kill anyone with it if he tried. Perhaps he could ask the tech department to make some sort of antidote to seal away this excess strength, and he could only tap into it whenever he was just asking for it, or just plain angry. That would make life better instead of living in a cardboard world.

There was no one else in the hot springs today, and just sitting here by himself made him feel empty. He had already admitted to himself that he liked Kate even more than a friend, and that anguish was already gone. Now he really wanted to just sit next to her, and they could just talk for hours. Of course, he could just finish this bath and walk out, fully clothed, to go talk to her for hours, but it seemed far too long to just wait. As much as he argued that they had two whole weeks to talk, he thought it wasn't enough.

He wondered how things were going on her end of the hot springs. She probably was just talking to someone who was in the hot springs with her, and if the lady was kind enough, she'd ask about her love life. Of course, Kate would probably be so embarrassed by it, she'd say it all anyway.

Keith's mind then wandered to the thought of the Union being ridiculous about their relationship. If he was any smarter, he would have not contacted the Union with Kate sleeping right next to him. But then again, he was on some level of idiocy when he was tired, enough to put a Dim Sun grunt to shame. But somehow, Kate paid little attention to the possibility of such. She was rather accepting if people did find that. He was quite glad that they accepted this, and not worry very much about it.

He stared at the clock, and then got up, wrapping the towel around himself as he strode out of the hot springs to go change.

"Hey," The two of them said at once, and then smiled to themselves as they settled into their seats. The two Rangers were sitting at one of the tables facing the calm harbor of Boyleland, drinks in their hands and clothed in bathrobes. Their clothes were apparently off to the washing machine for the moment, and soon they'll be heading back to bed once they pick up their clothes. Buizel and Starly were sitting on the table, nibbling at their own platter of food. Kate had sent how Snover and Misdreavus back to Partner Farm in advance so she wouldn't have to do anything tomorrow when they go back to the Union. Once they wake up, they're flying out on Staraptor, no exceptions.

"This place is nice," Kate noted. "It's calming for something that will happen tomorrow."

"True," Keith agreed. "You know, I think we should bring everyone from the Union here after we're done."

"Idiot," Kate chided. "Then it defeats the entire purpose of going to a hot springs. It will be noisy, and it won't be peaceful."

"Come on, Kate," Keith grinned. "I'm sure everyone will be behaving well."

"Oh, good," the Ranger sighed. "That's coming from someone who wanted to start a food fight in the cafeteria, and nearly did it."

Keith then began to deny that, and Kate continued to add more things that involved the one or two pranks he wanted to pull off and nearly ended in ruin, including the ones that actually succeeded during their time at Ranger School Academy. They finished with a long laugh at how funny those times were, before taking a final gulp of their drinks.

"It's so fast, these two weeks," Kate looked out to the night sky. "We only got to relax for so long, and then it's work again. And tomorrow we're getting back to the Union."

"Well, it's work, so we have to get it done," Keith shrugged. "Just hopefully, that plan Hastings wanted to tell us will be good. With Dim Sun disguised as the Altru Inc., we only get one shot at this."

"Yeah," Kate nodded. "I hope it's a good plan."

"Well, guess what happens day after tomorrow while they're at a big world takeover?" Keith looked at her, and Kate raised an eyebrow, asking for an answer. "Altru Inc.'s having a birthday bash. The Go-Rock-Quads, live and in person. On stage, plugged in, and rocked out."

"Sounds exciting," Kate nodded. "But then that's the day we execute Hastings plans. I wonder if the festivities will last long."

"Silly," Keith patted her on the shoulder. "We're going to defeat Dim Sun before they launch the party. If we win, they'll keep the party on, but for something else. Then we'd be able to say it to each other. What a sight, huh?"

"True," Kate smiled. "That would be something to see."

Kate and Keith were thoroughly surprised by the crowds of people waiting outside of the Union for them when they came flying in. They landed the Staraptor at the very middle of the courtyard, and hopped off onto the grass. Sure enough, they weren't really fans as they had thought it'd be, but nearly everyone from the Union, Operators, Rangers, and Scientists.

"They're back!" They all shouted, and Kate and Keith literally had to run up to the second floor to escape the crowd's wrath, or so-called "excitement." They were literally catching their breaths when a pair of several footsteps came up to them. They froze in fear that there was another crowd of people to smother them, but they saw only several people. Good. Relief.

"Welcome back, Kate, and Keith," Hastings nodded. "It seems that you managed to survive our welcoming party of death."

"Ugh," Kate groaned. "It was awful."

"Surely enough," Hastings turned on his heel. "We're starting meeting soon, since I postponed it. I was appalled it took you until evening to get here, if you said you left Boyleland in the morning."

"Air traffic?" Keith suggested, but Murph who was following behind them, began to muffle his laughter. Hastings then looked at the two of them.

"Really, I postponed the meeting to the evening because I thought you two had something to do."

"What are you talking about?" Kate raised an eyebrow.

"Naturally," Hastings said as they walked. "You two seemed to be together for a while. Have you done anything worthwhile?"

"We've only been recovering from our injuries, Professor," Keith laughed. "Nothing much. Other than visiting the Boyleland hot springs, but that's it, though."

Hastings then stopped. "Hot springs, you say?"

"Yeah."

Murph couldn't contain his laughter, and Vato and Nage were struggling to keep him standing when Hastings popped the question.

"Did you two bathe together?"

"Eh….?" Kate was completely dead in the mind right now, and Keith was sheet white, save for the red blush on his cheeks. They had no need to explode and yell at the professor because it was just too… out of the blue. The corridor was eerily silent for a moment, a lone wind sweeping through the vacant hallway. Thank goodness everyone had slacked off on their work to be partying on the first floor… Just thank goodness…

Everyone was settled in the conference room, with all Almia-based Top Rangers, Area Ranger Leaders, Top Operators, and the Science Department. Every seat was filled, and some had no space, so they were standing against the wall. Erma, Murph, and Hastings were at front, and they were waiting patiently for everyone to settle down. Once that was finished, Chairperson Erma looked at the Hastings.

"Prof. Hastings," She said in a calm tone. "If you would, please."

"Hmm," The old man nodded and began to sort through his papers. "Before I outline our operation, you need to know more about Altru Tower. Isaac, please."

The blonde scientist stood up from his seat. "Yes, sir!"

Tapping a few buttons, several projections appeared with the detailed plans of the Incredible Machine, namely, Altru Tower. Kate was quite amazed that it looked so menacing in such a projection instead of what she saw from Basil's sources. Sure, it was pretty big, but to see it in this way, it was… a bit scary.

"The tower is 334 meters tall, which is just shy of 1,100 feet," Isaac began. "From the top of the tower, you can see out to all corners of the Almia region."

"What a good place for sightseeing," Sven chuckled, and Isaac shook his head.

"But it's not an observation deck for tourists or anything of the sort," he continued. "It had to be that tall to gain control over every Pokemon in Almia."

Isaac changed the projections to the large irregularly formed crystal that was put on close up. The crystal was floating on top of the tower, and was emanating dark rays around the tower. Keith and Kate recognized that it would be a huge stone, remembering how big that crystal should have been back at Chroma Ruins on their first mission with Sven.

The blonde scientist gulped before adding to his previous statements. "The Shadow Crystal from the Chroma Ruins is set on top of the tower. A strong electrical feed to the crystal unleashes the power. It will gain control over all Pokemon within an approximately 500-mile radius. The Incredible Machine's power is equal to roughly eight million Gigaremo units."

He tapped a few more buttons to a room that looked similar to that of the Operator Room, except with darker colors. "Halfway up to the tower is the centralized control room. It allows control of individual Pokemon with unique signals for each one. It also has approximately 300 times more commands than the Miniremo. That is all I have to say."

Everyone nodded to his report, and began to talk amongst themselves. Keith and Kate glanced at each other. They could tell that the other was scared of what was going on, and chiding each other about how dangerous this Mission ended up to be. Nonetheless, they had to keep on with it.

Hastings stood up and banged his cane on the floor to silence everyone. "These facts emerged from Isaac sharing information with us. Combined with our own data, we have a clearer picture of what we are facing."

He glanced at Nage and Vato, who hurriedly stood up to hold up a folder, "Kincaid had misled Isaac all this time with false promises about the tower. 'A peaceful project for fostering new means of communications between pokemon and people,' he was told. So, we come to the question: what is their objective? The answer, we found written in Brighton Hall's diary, Nage, if you would."

"Yes, sir!" The brown haired scientist nodded eagerly and began to read through it:

"XX month, XX day,

"My son, Blake Hall, having just turned sixteen, drove me out of the company. His parting words crushed me. I will eliminate anyone who stands in the way of my world domination, even my father. My soon has become the main character in this nightmare. The nightmare woven by the Shadow Crystal..."

Nage looked back up to the conference, with a grave face. "That is as far we've been able to decipher."

Barlow nearly sprung out of his seat, "Blake Hall is aiming to take over the world?"

"The incredible machine can control all the Pokemon in Almia, supposedly," Keith mentioned. "If that's so, world domination doesn't sound all that far-fetched."

"And judging from what Project Black Water did," Vato noted. "I'd think that he'd try to put the human population under his heels."

Wendy was speechless as she stared at the revolving plans of the tower. "This is terrifying news..."

The conference room then began to rumble, and several coffee mugs were tottering to the ends of the tables. Then a burst of power shook the entire room, and several people fell over, startled. Keith suddenly hung onto Kate, and hugged her tightly as everyone was struggling to stay in their seats. Then the small earthquake stopped, and everyone looked at each other. Keith looked back at Kate, who was clearly as shaken as he.

"You okay?" He asked softly, and Kate nodded before climbing back into her seat. Hastings was completely taken off, and he began looking at everyone.

"What was that noise?"

Isaac slowly got up onto his seat. "...They must have run power to the incredible machine as a test. They only turned it on for an instant to monitor its operation. Judging by the noise just now, however, the test was a failure."

"Failure?" Kate looked at Isaac with calculating eyes. "I imagine they haven't been able to do the final adjustments to the program."

"Correct," Isaac nodded. "That's because I was supposed to do them. However, even if the final adjustments aren't made, the tower will still operate. Its power will be reduced to about half, but it will still work. That's how the incredible machine was designed."

"Hm..." Sven noted quietly. "Even at half power, it can still wreak havoc far and wide."

Murph then noticed the sudden unease with everyone, and then clapped his hands to get their attention. "All right, everyone. Look sharp! Let's announce our plan. Vato, you start."

"Yes, sir," The scientists got up and began a slideshow of the blueprints. "Extensive analysis of the blueprints makes one thing abundantly clear. It is virtually impossible to shut off the tower's electrical circuits."

"That leaves us with one option," Keith continued, understanding what they needed to do. "We gotta do something about the Shadow Crystal itself atop the tower."

"Right," Vato agreed, and continued uploading slides of the blueprint details. "However, infiltrating the tower will be an undertaking fraught with danger."

"What, then, can we do?" Hastings continued. Vato then looked back to the blueprints and took a deep breath.

"There remains a course of action: mount an assault on the tower from the outside."

"Good," Hastings nodded and turned to everyone else. "Do you recall how the three pendants shone on the rooftop? And how they turned the Dark Shard completely transparent? That is what we attempt on top of the tower!"

"Well," Erma added. "For that, ideally, we should have the Red, Blue, and the Yellow Gems together."

"But with only the two we have," Hastings continued. "We should severely weaken the tower's power. It's output should be out by nearly 70% if we succeed."

Sven stood up with a wide grin on his face as he adjusted the cowboy hat on his head. "All right, professor. How do we get the two gems to the Shadow Crystal atop Altru Tower, ne?"

"Well… uh…" Isaac stuttered. "If you we can fly it will work."

Wendy's eyes brightened and she sprang out of her seat, "Are you suggesting that we should get my Staraptor's help?"

"Precisely!" Hastings gave a proud answer. "You will live up to your nickname the 'Flying Ranger!'"

He then began to pace before finally nodding. "Two Rangers are to each ride a Staraptor, carrying the Red or Blue Gem. They are to circle the tower and draw closer and closer to the Shadow Crystal."

"I see," Kate nodded. "So the closer they get, the greater the gems' effect on the Shadow Crystal."

"Of course," Erma said quite softly with a look of worry. "That also increasingly exposes the Top Ranger to danger..."

"So, for this important Mission," Hastings jumped in. "I would like to call upon the best of our Top Rangers. The two that we have learned to take pride in. Sven and Wendy!"

Kate and Keith said nothing as the two standing Rangers as they gave obedient nods. Sven nodded, ready to shoot off sparks if he were his partner Luxray.

"Now you're talking! I've been longing for a Mission like this!"

"Well," Murph laughed nervously at the Ranger's enthusiasm. "You get to go all out now…"

"You can count on me," Wendy placed a hand on her heart. "Flying is what um especially good at."

"Good," Hastings nodded, and then turned to the two remaining Top Rangers. "Kate and Keith, you are to remain on standby at the Union. There's no telling what might happen, so we want you here... Does that displease you?"

"Very," Kate said flatly, but something was setting her and Keith on edge. Something was coming for the Union Building, and it was strange instinct that made them forget that they were being left out of Operation Brighton at the moment. What was this feeling of dread?

Barlow stood to take action on his own. "We Area Rangers will concentrate on addressing the concerns of citizens."

"That's what I hoped to hear, Barlow," Erma smiled. "You're entrusted with that task."

"All right, everyone!" Hastings pointed his cane to the ceiling. "Let Operation Brighton commence!"

" I have faith that you will all be safe," Erma smiled warmly to the four Rangers before they depart to their jobs. Sven and Wendy were hefting the two Tears of Princes that Vato and Nage had carefully drawn from their safe houses. Before they left, Sven and Wendy turned to their younger comrades.

"Mind the Union while we're gone, you two," Sven gave a reassuring smile. "We'll report in regularly."

Then they were gone, leaving the two young Rangers behind as everyone ran off in their own direction. Keith was rather disgruntled about the fact that they were given the role of guarding the Union, rather than going into action with Wendy and Sven. Were they still being looked down as rookies?

Kate looked at his pained face, and understood his thoughts, before grabbing his hand and making him move across the hall to the main escalators. Buizel scampered after them, and Starly

"Let's go," Kate said. "We're patrolling the building."

Keith gave her a surprised look, and then nodded as they headed for the escalators when a low rumble began to make their feet tingle. Then a large fulminating noise shook the entire building, and the two Rangers ducked for cover. The earthquake subsided, and they looked up in alarm, warily darting about for anything suspicious. Then Kate heard a deafening scream from the bottom floor. Immediately, the two sprang into action and rushed for the escalators. However, something collided with both of them, and Kate and Keith hit the floor with a loud thud.

Keith got up, and he looked at Kate, who was literally squashed by a person, who was thrown at them not too long ago. But the dreaded realization nearly made him freeze.

"Murph!" He shouted, and he pried the representative off of Kate. Kate winced from the sudden loss of weight on her stomach and began to gasp harshly. Keith settled the man to the side, and helped Kate up. She was thoroughly shaken from being thrown at, and she was clutching her chest in an effort to breathe normally again after getting the wind knocked out of her.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fi-"

BOOM!

Another loud noise shook the Union again, and Keith kept an arm about Kate in case any debris fell on top of them. Kate, finally regaining her sense, looked at Keith in surprise.

"Keith, what's happening?"

"I don't know!" Keith shouted. "But Murph, he's hurt!"

"Murph?" Kate looked at the fallen representative, and the two of them huddled around him, their partner Pokemon staring at him in worry. The man was barely awake, and his arms, legs, chest, and face were splattered with blood. Keith grabbed both the man's shoulders in desperation.

"Murph," Keith shook the representative. "Hang in there!"

"Keith, don't do that!" Kate swatted his hands away. "You're hurting him!"

"B-b-b-big trouble," Murph muttered, and the two Rangers paid close attention to him, ears sharp.

"What's going on, Murph?" Kate asked furiously. "What's happening on the ground floor?"

"The ground floor doors…" Murph began to speak in a hoarse voice. "They… were blown apart by a wicked explosion…"

"Explains the bang," Keith mumbled. "What then?"

"Some big… sinister guy came in…" Murph said. "Then some… other… people… in dark… clothing… I tried… to come up here to… tell… t-the… ot-others… but… I got…"

"It's fine, Murph," Kate nodded, giving the representative a reassuring smile. "We'll take care of them."

"Now which brats said they could take care of us?" An obnoxious voice reached her ears, and she turned around to see an Admin standing proudly with a Miniremo up front with several Carnevine at his disposal. She could feel Keith getting angrier by the moment, and their partner Pokemon were very uneasy.

"Th-those… guys…" Murph muttered, and Kate realized what he was talking about. These goons… they hurt Murph, and they probably injured a whole lot of the faculty downstairs… unforgivable, that was all she thought.

"Y-You…" Kate growled, and the Dim Sun laughed at Murph as he struggled to get up with his bleeding arm, with Keith holding him down and telling him not to hurt himself any more.

"Just look at you!" The grunt grinned. "You're crawling-"

Before the Dim Sun member could finish, the Rangers were gone, and they suddenly appeared from both sides to deliver a swift punch to the man's face from both sides, and the man gasped before he clattered to the ground, leaving the Miniremo unattended. Keith looked at the Carnevine that were still under control, and he released his Capture Disc. In a few loops, he managed to complete his capture, and the Miniremo died down, its battery drained.

Kate launched the grunt into a wall, and then used her sword to slice the Miniremo into smithereens. She then noticed that the grunt was getting up, and immediately she pounced at him, and twisted him around to smash his face into the wall, she then used her open hand to put him in a tight arm-lock, and then slammed him onto the floor. She brandished her sword with one hand and held it dangerously close to her victim's neck.

"All right, then." Kate smiled darkly, eyes gleaming dangerously. "You better apologize for hurting our dear representative back there, and then you'll be telling me everything I need to know."

The Dim Sun member tried to make a run for it, but Kate continued to hold him down with his hand in a tight arm lock. His face was painted with sweat, and he could not move once Kate set her knee right in his back. When she didn't hold back and just sat down with her knee digging into his back, the man screamed, and began hitting the floor his head free hand that was rendered useless.

"Stop!" the man wailed, and Kate snorted, Keith coming up behind her, eyes just as cold as he.

"This is only a light take down," Keith rolled his eyes, his face wearing a dark smile. "And I thought you guys were really good. Nope. You're just being a wimp."

"Please! Let me go!" the man whined. "I'll tell you why we're here! Please!"

"I'll loosen just a bit." Kate did as she said. "Now please do tell."

The man began to babble about stopping the Union's plans and invading the Union to retrieve a few things, but it was too vague. Keith angrily knocked the guy's lights out, and helped Kate up to her feet. She returned her blade back into its sheath and sighed as she looked at the red mark on her arm. Her bandages were still there, and they were coming undone pretty fast. Even worse, the ribbons of white were getting red splotches over them. Did she open something?

"You okay?" Keith asked, noticing the new injury she gained and another she opened. "He nearly hit you."

"No he didn't," Kate scowled, and she turned around to head for the bottom floor.

"K-Kate… Keith…" A strangled voice caught their attention, and they saw Murph wearing a terrified look on their face. Not once had he truly seen a Ranger in action, and now this? Kate gave the man a sympathetic look, and came over to help him. Surely, seeing her take out a grunt was probably a bad experience.

Then a smile drew across Murph's face. Kate and Keith looked in surprise as Murph began to smile brightly at them, his eyes very serious.

"You two are amazing," He smiled."To think that you two were just rookies…"

"What are you talking about?" Kate smiled. "We're Top Rangers now. How can we be rookies?"

"No… not at all…." Murph laughed. "You two are such amazing people, being able to fight like that. It's almost as if you've really surpassed everyone. I can really see it, the two dragons of the Union."

"Dragons?" Keith raised an eyebrow. "I'm not breathing fire out of my mouth if that's what you meant."

"Course not," Murph chuckled. "You're just such powerful people. It's hard not to be awed by how well you take things like this so well."

"Anyways, that was a close one," Murph said as he got up with Keith's help. "But there's still a few more downstairs, mostly downstairs. I'll try to warn everyone else."

"Gotcha," Keith nodded, and Murph flashed them a grin before climbing up the escalator to the third floor. Kate and Keith noticed that the people in the rooms were running out to see them.

"Ready, Keith?" Kate said in an eerily calm tone as she drew out her sword, making everyone watching her gasp. Keith nodded coldly, and reached into his pocket to slip on his pair of white gloves, the red circles glowing ominously.

A/N: Aha! Chapter with a hot springs, (and rather muddled development. I was rushing this… again… facepalm)! It's funny how not much people really write about going to a hot springs. I frankly got a bit tired of beach episodes, so an onsen sounded nice. Still remember those funny episodes where guys try to peek at the girls, and it ends awfully (well, it's a rule not to peek, apparently).

Oh, well… yay! Action time! And of course, you do not mess with anyone from the Union because the Rangers will get you. (muahahaha!)

Was watching No. 6 yesterday, and I kept laughing at all the hidden slash bits in there (no, not a slash fan, just amused). Actually got into Fairy Tail, and inspiration for a new story is coming at the moment (ashamed that I didn't bother to try looking at the ones that are almost dead).