Authors note: Kept mistakening Keith's last name. It's been Gardner, not Gardener. I'll see if I can fix the mistakes in previous chapters if I find them.

But hey guys! Grab a chair and enjoy the action! Read all about it! Give it a review! We've got some adventures as Kate takes on Dim Sun. Plus a little surprise I have for Keith. Hope you love it!

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Drifting…it felt like he was drifting….

Everything seemed so distant, far away like a dream from another reality. There was cold…and warmth. Nothing yet something. Consiousness but also…a trance-like state. Keith couldn't tell how long he had been floating among the tranquility. But he hadn't been aware of anything till he felt a presence.

"Stable. He'll be up and at em in a little while."

"Took some hard hits. Hard to believe he's lasted so long."

"He's tough. But his will is stubborn and hasn't backed down yet."

Keith groaned. Where were those voices coming from?

"I think he's waking up…"

Redhead, very slowly, opened his eyes. It was extremely bright. Impossible to see at first. Two silhouettes were bending over him. Keith started to sit up, adjusting to the light which had been pure white with mist all around the air. What was this place? Keith never saw anything like it.

"What….happened…?" Keith mumbled, rubbing his head trying to remember.

"You were knocked off Altru tower in your latest mission." A voice answered.

Altru….that's right! He was about to take the Yellow Gem up into the air on a staraptor. But then Lavana came and ordered the magmotar to hit….

"KATE! Kate where…" Keith whirled around. "…are….you…."

He faced two other people dressed in white, both his age. One had dark hair that shined blue in the light. His face and eyes seemed a little familiar. But it was the girl who caught and held Keith's attention. Her long, evenly brown hair that fell down her shoulders…the perfect skin…that face with the eyes…could it be? Was it really…?

"No…" Keith stopped himself. "You're not Kate…"

The girl blinked.

"How do you know?" She asked.

"Her eyes are a beautiful sky blue. Yours have green mixed in them." Keith answered. "And I can feel it. Something's different…"

This girl otherwise looked exactly like Kate. Many of the details were perfectly similar. As if they were….

"Josie?" Keith gasped, realizing.

"So you figured it out." She smiled.

"Then…" Keith turned to the boy. "You must be…"

"Indigo." The boy nodded. "It's nice to finally meet you, Keith Gardner."

Indigo and Josie…Kate's deceased triplet brother and sister….

"But…but how? Where? You're…I….this…ah…" Keith stammered, taken aback. "Wait…does that mean I'm dead?"

"No but you gave it your best shot." Josie giggled.

"This is more of the halfway point, between life and death. When you crashed into the ground, your spirit started to leave your body." Indigo explained. "We took you aside to assess damage and to help you. As we speak, our energy is pouring into your body and slowly recovering it. Within a little bit, you'll be back on your feet and ready for the mission again."

"You're helping me? But why?" Keith asked.

"You have your role as guardian to fulfill." Indigo replied.

"Kate still needs you so she can unlock her light powers. Plus she'll need your protection and assistance once you two fight the darkness." Josie went into detail. "If you don't come back to save her, she'll die."

"WHAT?" Keith exclaimed.

"Calm down she's fine right now!" Josie reassured. "She's taking on the Dim Sun leaders at the moment. But she'll need you soon enough."

"I promise I'll be there for her. I'll give my life to make sure she's safe." Keith vowed.

"Seeing as how you've already done that, we know you'll uphold that promise." Indigo smirked. "We also know that you love her."

"….yeah." Keith sighed. "I do."

"That's the other reason we're helping you." Josie said.

"Huh?" Keith blinked.

"I've been a guardian angel for Kate as far back as I could remember. When Indigo was killed by darkrai, he joined me in looking out for our sister. We wanted to make sure she was alright, growing up without us or our parents." Josie explained. "But…then you came…"

"You were twice the guardian angel than we were. Keith…." Indigo looked straight into him with seriousness. "You made her laugh and kept her happy. She blossomed, thanks to you. Protecting her wasn't just taking the hit or saving her all those times. You did so much more than that."

Keith remembered something.

'You might not understand this now…but protecting someone isn't just keeping them from danger.'

Ms. April said that to him what felt like a long time ago. Back then, Keith had no idea what she was talking about. Now….he did. He understood it completely.

"Thanks Keith." Josie softly said.

The redhead gave a small grin and a nod, trying to comprehend it all.

"Now that we know you're doing a great job looking after Kate, Josie and I don't have to be guardian angels for her anymore." Indigo told him.

"Wait! I didn't mean to take your job!" Keith frantically apologized.

"Don't worry! We'll still watch over you from time to time!" Josie laughed.

"Kate is our sister. Gotta make sure you don't screw up with her." Indigo half-joked.

"I won't." Keith saluted. "Ranger's promise."

A wind started to pick up. Keith felt it tugging at him, pulling him back.

"Looks like it's time to go." Josie said.

"Thanks for everything you guys. It's an honor to meet Kate's siblings. Even if it is just one time." Keith told them.

"And it was amazing to meet you too." Indigo replied.

"If anyone was to be chosen as Kate's guardian, we're glad it's you." Josie said to him.

Keith could feel the wind getting stronger by the second and the light getting brighter. He was levitated in the air by a powerful force.

"Good luck!"

"Au revior!"

The light was blinding Keith's eyes. He felt himself hurling down at stupendous speeds. Then came the sudden landing and everything was black.

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"….Keith? Keith? Please wake up…come on buddy wake up…"

Warmth flowed through his body again. Keith could feel himself in his own skin again, his head no longer foggy. Another groan and he opened his eyes.

"Keith!"

Wave was standing over him, relieved. Keith sat up and scratched his partner pokemon's head. He inspected his body for bruises, scrapes and any sort of injuries. None. No damage whatsoever. Keith was completely healed up, as if the fly from the tower never hurt him.

"Sorry to make you worry, Wave." Keith apologized.

"It's good to see you're ok." Wave rubbed up against his leg.

Keith looked to see he landed by Lookout Ridge. That was some ways away from the tower. But he could see it. The barriers were gone. Though the dark clouds only grew worse. Keith could feel that things were getting worse. Wait…there was a tiny opening in the clouds. A white spot that flickered for just a few moments. It was night. Naturally there wouldn't be specks like that. Keith smiled a little, knowing what it was.

"Josie…Indigo…" Keith thought. "Thanks. I'm ready to fight whatever's coming my way."

There was a staraptor nearby. Different than the one from before (had to have flown off) but in a pinch, it would do.

"Wave! Let's go!" Keith sprang up. "We've got a world to save!"

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THIS IS ALTRU CORE COMPUER. THIS IS ALTRU CORE COMPUTER

THE INCREDIBLE MACHINE'S POWER IS CURRENTLY LEVEL 1. POWER NEEDED FOR LEVEL 2 is….10%. I REPEAT, 10%

THERE ARE NO AB…NONORAMAMAMAMAMA….ABNORMALTIES

"Sounds like this thing has abnormalities galore." Kate sweatdropped.

Two barriers disabled. Heath and Lavana were jokes. Sure their pokemon were tough but Kate was tougher! And despite adding a security system to their barriers, Issac laughed at how simple it really was. Now all that was left was the final barrier, the blue one on top of the tower. Kate assumed Ice was the last. Finally. Some sweet revenge on that pervert.

She entered the room with Issac. Indeed, Ice was there. He stood in front of the circuit orb with a gallade. Though the wires connecting the orb seemed to pulse stronger than the other two. Maybe the first barrier was meant to be that way.

"Hey there flat chest. Come back for more of me?" Ice smirked deviously. "And hello to my computer teacher. Welcome to Altru Tower, where when the dates chances, Almia will enter a new era."

"We'll make sure that it won't happen!" Kate said.

"Why don't we just stay here and count the second?" Ice suggested. "I was never a fighter anyways. Always a pacifist."

I don't care what religion you are!" Kate told him.

"Pacifist means you don't like to fight." Issac whispered.

"Oh. Got it." Kate nodded. "Besides, wasn't it you who blasted a hole through the wall of the Union?"

The blue leader flipped his hair dramatically.

"How about this? We'll stop this whole fighting deal and I'll give you a fourth spot as a leader to Dim Sun. Blake might not mind so much." Ice offered. "Besides, you can be my girlfriend."

"HELL NO!" Kate yelled.

A violent shaking interrupted the conversation.

THIS IS ALTRU CORE COM….PUTER! THIS IS ALTRU CORE COMPUTER!

INCREDIBLE MACHINE IS CURRENTLY LEVEL 1. POWER NEEDED FOR LEVEL 2 IS…..LI….LITTLE. I REPEAT, LITTLE.

POWER IS RISING STEDADADADADADA….THERE NO MAMAMAMAMAMA….

"No abnormalities…right." Ice sighed. "But Issac, you are almost out of time. And even if flat-chest gets by me, I rewrote the coding for the orb. Did it as soon as I heard you two were up here."

"I can crack any codes." Issac proudly told him.

"Ice!"

Lavana and Heath rushed inside.

"We failing at order from boss!" Heath said.

"So I've noticed." Ice mumbled.

"I'm back from fixing my makeup. Had to get more myself since my Crimson unit's gone missing." Lavana slipped a lipstick tube into her skirt pocket.

"I'd go on about your amateur booty-trap programs but I think we can all agree that we should be taking down these two pests." Ice said to them. "Lend me your pokemon. We're going with a three pokemon assault!"

"Right!" Heath and Lavana summoned their pokemon.

The rhyperior and magmortar from before leapt onto the scene. Gallade came forth. Kate got the styler out and began capturing. Maybe one by one, these pokemon were a challenge. But together? Aw man it was tough! Their combined strengths and attacks made it difficult to wrap the styler even once. Rhyperior was tossing out boulders, Gallade swiped with its sword-arms and magmortar focused on the flamethrower. Kate couldn't let herself get beat though. While occasionally looping the others, she decided to make the rhyperior her first focus so she could get rid of its unpredictable rock tosses. Chia came in handy a multitude of times, paralyzing the others so Kate could concentrate. When rhyperior was captured, Kate switched to the magmortar and its long-range fire attacks. With one less pokemon to worry about and previous experience with magmortar, Kate found it a lot easier to capture it. Two down, one to go. The gallade got swifter with much more room but Kate knew how to handle fast targets. It didn't take long before the last pokemon was captured.

"Our boss!" Heath shouted as the pokemon left. "He on top of here! Protecting him we must be doing!"

Heath raced out of the room while Lavana and Ice seemed too dazed to move.

"Show our face? To the boss? No way I'm humiliated!" Lavana cried and ran off.

"You spineless losers…" Ice growled. "That battle was only to whittle away the time. No way you can break the orb in time. Especially with that tricky passcode I enabled."

"Oh really? Think again."

Attention was turned to Issac, who was at the orb grinning. He had been trying to figure the code the entire time! Must've slipped over there mid-battle. Kate didn't even notice.

"No…you didn't…" Ice whispered.

"But I did." Issac chuckled. "I managed to crack your little code. Challenging, which felt particularly refreshing, but nothing I couldn't handle."

"You know what? Just take it!" Ice tossed the Yellow Gem to Kate. "Take it and go!"

"Chill out dude." Kate mocked.

"You could've had it all, Kate. Power, money, glory…everything. And we would've made a good team." Ice started to leaving in a hurry. "Chao, flat-chest!"

Kate rolled her eyes.

"Kate, we're all set! Target clear with an electric type!" Issac told her.

"Chia!" Kate nodded.

"No problem!" Chia leapt into the air.

She shot out gigajolts of electricity into the orb, shattering it to pieces. Power stopped running inside the cords and cables. Kate could hear the familiar zaps and buzzes of the barrier disappearing.

"Hit the deck!"

Issac pushed her to the ground as an explosion burst from the machine. Yikes that was close…

"Ice must've put a time delay on it." Issac said. "Didn't expect him to master programming that sophisticated. He chose the wrong path…like I did…"

"Hey. At least you realized it, Issac. And once this whole mess is over, I'll help you get back on the right path." Kate reassured him. "For now, we've gotta keep moving."

Both researcher and ranger started running. Kate's styler rang; she answered it while still continuing on.

"Hey Lucky!" Sven calling. "Barrier's final level's gone! Woo! We can get close to the Shadow Crystal!"

"Yeah!" Kate cheered.

"I'm a little worried about Keith…but I think he'll do alright. He's a top ranger. Just watch him make some dramatic entrance about it." Sven said.

"Yeah that sounds like him." Kate sweatdropped, internally worrying (Chia seemed concerned as well)

"Voicemail!" Hasting's came onto the call. "Sven and Wendy! Can you hear? Circle the tower and try to get close to the Shadow Crystal with your gems! Even just two will have an effect!"

"Roger!" Sven and Wendy responded.

Kate shut the call off and started to climb the stairs. A tremor shook, knocking the girl a few steps back. Issac clung to the railing.

THIS IS AL…ALTRU CORE COMPUTER. THIS IS ALTRU CO-CORE COMPUTER.

INCREDIBLE MACHINE HAS REACHED LEVEL 2. POWER NEEDED FOR LEVEL 3 IS…99% MORE. 98% MORE. 97%. 96%. 95%. 94%.

THERE ARE NO UP DOWN CIRCLEPAD JUMP RIGHT RIGHT LEFT LEFT TWO ANALOG CONTROL BZZZZT! BWEEEEEE GZTGZTGZT ZZZZZZTTTTT!

"We're at level 2! Once we're there, it takes almost no time to get to level 3!" Issac yelled over the shaking. "President Hall is close! Hurry!

He and Kate rushed up the stairs, trying to avoid falling back down from the shakes. It stopped once they hit the next floor up. There was a hallway that led to another pair of stairs. One room only which made Kate groan in pain. Something painful…..something painful was happening in that room. It jerked at her insides and made her feel sick. The headache returned but it felt more sad and dull'd than the previous ones. But as much as Kate wanted to see what was in that room, she and Issac had to keep going. They ran up the stairs again.

The next room was a circular and large. Stairs that led up to what Kate believed to be the top were blocked by an electric trap. Nearby was a giant computer in some sort of weird-built cell. Issac went over and typed some things in.

"I'll disarm it. Same trap as before." Issac said. "Ice must've installed this."

"Which means you'll have no issues?" Kate smiled.

"Of course!" Issac replied. "And…..done!"

The electric trap was gone. Perfectly fine to cross and go up the stairs. But just as Issac was about to leave, the cell activated an electric laser barrier of its own. Issac was trapped inside.

"No! Gah…I should've known Ice would use the time lapse trap again!" Issac groaned.

"You ok?" Kate asked.

"I'm fine…but Kate…" Issac looked up at her. "You have to go on. Sorry but from here on out, you'll have to face Blake Hall on your own. Thanks for believing in me, even when I was on the wrong side. But now you need to hurry. Not a second to waste with the computer almost at level 3."

"Alright." Kate nodded. "Chia! We better get going!"

"Good luck!"

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This is Sky the wri…writer. Full awesomness is…..100%. Growing steadily. Next update is soooooo…sooooon! There are…are…there are no abmamama..no no no no no..rrrrrr…eeeeee…..bzzzzzt!

Gotcha! I always laugh at the computer in the game for some reason. So ridiculous that it goes haywire. What? Can't Dim Sun complete a computer that knows when its malfunctioning? Keep waiting for more updates!