Hey everyone, sorry for the wait. During the time I didn't release a new chapter, I had trouble trying to make myself write, but recently I have regained motivation, so hopefully you can expect another one coming next month. With that, let's begin the chapter, and I hope you all enjoy!

Chapter 7

"Hoo! Well, I think that's enough training for today." Ramble said, as he carefully put down the monster-truck sized weights. As he did, a loud animal-like growl came from his stomach.

"Oh, yeah, I should probably eat something else." Ramble said as he went back into his house.

"Should I get takeout or-" before he could finish his question, suddenly his scouter started to ring.

"Please don't be a mission I just had one." Ramble muttered to himself as he picked it up.

On the screen of the scouter, it read "1 new message." Ramble sighed to himself, before saying "Open message." In response, the scouter proceeded to project the message on the wall. Once it did, Ramble began to read the message.

"Attention patroller…recent events…mis-of course I do." Ramble said to himself as he read the message.

"Be in the Sub-Time Nest for briefing at 4?" Ramble said as he finished reading it off. He then sighed to himself, turning off the projector. "Well, guess that nap has to be a lot shorter."

Mount Terrace; 7:24 pm

Ramble walked up the mountain, making sure that his feet were stuck good in the snow with each step he took. He looked onward, the wind trying to cut through his skin, and the cold temperatures trying to weaken it.

"Okay. A few more steps…" Ramble stated, before putting one foot forward. The foot, however, seemingly disappeared as he put it down.

"There we go." Ramble said as he walked fully through the invisible barrier.

Once Ramble had stepped fully through the barrier, the building that was hidden by it was revealed to him. The main part had a rectangular shape, with various towers sticking out of it that supported another part of the building that was logged into the mountain. On top of the part that was in the mountain was a flag that held the Time Patrol symbol on it. Next to the flag was an elevator that led all the way up to the mountain, to a part of the mountain which was covered by clouds.

"Finally, it's way too cold out here." Ramble said, as he walked to the doors. "I wish we didn't have to walk up here every time we need to get debriefed."

As he finished that thought, Ramble had made it to the doors, which greeted him with various things. It presented to him a scanner to press his hand against, a key card scanner, a pricker, a face scanner, and voice recognition. Ramble sighed, as he first put his face and his hand on the respective scanners. Once it scanned and confirmed him, he then took out his card and swiped it against the key card scanner, which turned from a bright red to a neon green. Finally, he lowered his ki and pricked his finger and spoke into the voice recognition, which both turned on a green light. With all of that done, the doors swung open, with an automated voice telling Ramble "Agent 397,859, welcome back to headquarters."

Ramble then proceeded to walk through the door frame, taking off his coat and hanging it up on the coat rack, which already had a few on it. Inside, he was welcomed to the sight of a reception desk which had a bell on it and multiple working hands. Behind the desk was the Time Patrol insignia, and beside it were two doorways, both leading to different hallways.

Ramble walked up to the desk and proceeded to rap his knuckles lightly against the bell. Suddenly, a humanoid figure popped up from the bottom of the desk, possessing multiple arms. Most of the arms were occupied with writing something down or filling out paperwork, only leaving two hands free.

"How may I be of service today?" The receptionist asked, its free hands already on a keyboard.

"I'm here for a meeting with the Commander." Ramble said, looking at the Time Patrol insignia behind the receptionist.

The android, in response, started typing quickly into the keyboard, looking through the schedule.

"Yes, you are right on time. The meeting will be in the third tower, second room. Just let me escort you-"

Before it could finish, Ramble walked right past it, already going through the left door.

"Oh, it seems that he knew where to go." It started, pushing a button on its back. "Okay, activating power save mode." It said, returning back to the state it was in.

A little later, in the second room of the third tower…

"Commander, if I may ask, what are we exactly waiting for?" Jason said to the man in front of him.

The man, who was wearing a blue jacket with black pants and a pair of silver boots, responded "It's not a matter of what, Mr Jason, it's more a matter of-"

Just as the Commander is about to finish his sentence, the door swings open, to reveal Ramble walking through.

"Who." The Commander finished.

"Sorry I'm late," Ramble said, sitting down. "The lines were so-"

Ramble then noticed that he was sitting right next to Jason, who looked like he was trying to stab Ramble with his eyes.

"Oh, hey Jason. I wasn't told you were gonna be here." Ramble said, sitting down in the desk next to Jason.

"Neither was I." Jason stated, turning his head towards the Commander. "And if I may, Commander, I do not think that I can work with this-"

"Mr Jason," the Commander interrupted. "Must I remind you that we have kept tabs on all of our Patrollers since their arrivals to the Time Patrol. When they're training, on patrol, waiting in line for the transfer clerk, anywhere and everywhere. We have assigned you to Mr Ramble with the utmost precaution and security that you compliment each other. This pairing was not a mistake, and I this will be your first and last warning, do you understand Mr Jason?"

Jason simply bit his tongue, his eyes moving back to glare at Ramble.

"Now then, let's start, shall we?" Commander stated, turning and pressing a button. As soon as he pressed it, the screen came to life, showing a map of a town.

"You two have been assigned to stakeout at Napier Town." He stated, pointing to a place on the map. "There has been multiple pieces of evidence that has led our charters to believe that there is going to be a trade between the Radiants and the Painkillers." He then pointed to a different part of the map. "They believe that they are exchanging weapons for money. You two are going to stay in this area, and wait for contact to happen. The recorded weapons are experimental ki cannons that were stolen from a Time Patrol weapons factory, so you have to be careful. If they don't appear between 8:30 - 10:30, just report back that nothing was seen, and you can return back to your homes. As soon as you can confirm it is them with the weapons, intercept and bring back anything and anyone."

He then turned back to face the two, asking "Are you two unclear about anything?"

They both simply sat there, not a word escaping their lips.

"Good." the Commander states, before walking over to the window and looking through it. "The map of the location is in the database of your scouters, and the Transport Clerks have already been prepped. You should go now."

Ramble and Jason proceeded to get out of their seats, and both headed to the door. Just as Ramble was reaching for the handle, Jason grabbed it before him, and went through the door without holding it for Ramble.

Ramble sighed, and followed after him, closing the door behind him.

The commander stayed where he was for a minute, before turning his head towards the window. He looked out through the window, with his face looking blank as a toy doll.

He then looked back at the two seats that Jason and Ramble were sitting in, 2 distant voices talking in his head. 1 that belonged to him and another that belonged to a familiar voice.

"Hey, I'm Lupin. It's nice to meet you."

"..."

"So, I heard that you're my partner, wanna go spar later or something?"

"…"

"Come on, could you at least tell me your name?"

The other voice sighed, and said "My name is-"

Suddenly, his watch started to let out a faint beeping, flashing blue. He to look at it, reading the message on it while walking on out. As he finished reading the message and opened the door, he quickly looked back at the two seats. He kept his eyes on them for what felt like an eternity to him, before turning his head back and walking out the door, closing it behind him.

Napier town; 7:35 P.M.

"Welp, we're here." Ramble said as both he and Jason walked out of the Transfer Clerk station.

Ramble turned his head, taking in the surrounding area. They were being greeted with an array of buildings, most of them having 4-5 floors. The roads seemed to be the darkest black in existence, and were smoother than pearls. Some people could be seen in some restaurants and walking about, while there were others at concession stands, and a few that were leaning on the walls by themselves. There was a street lamp every few yards, consistently keeping the area lighted, and the walls were vibrantly colored, seemingly bouncing out at Ramble.

"So, which direction is-" before he finished his sentence, Ramble noticed that Jason already jumped up onto the roofs of the buildings. "Okay, guess I'm following you." Ramble said to himself, following suit and jumping up onto the roofs with Jason.

They both ran on top of the roofs, sliding and leaping over vents and walls. Eventually, Jason stopped suddenly, with Ramble catching up and standing next to him. Ramble looked around at the area they were in, taking in the surroundings of this area. Not a person was in sight of the streets, and those who were were in tattered clothes, holding out a bowl that had a few coins in it. The paint was faded to the point that it was practically nonexistent, and the lamp posts lacked a bulb or could only dimly light the surrounding area. The street was not a newly paved road, rather it was a bumpy one made up of gravel.

Ramble then tapped on his scouter, which displayed the section of the area that he and Jason were in. There was a bright circle around an area that was to his left.

"Well, we could stay up here, or we could wait in one of the rooms in that hotel." Ramble said to his partner, pointing to the 3-story building. "What do you think?"

Jason simply walked over to the side of the roof and crouched, and did not utter a word, not even looking at Ramble.

"Okay, then I guess we'll wait up here." Ramble said, sitting down next to Jason.

Some time later, at 21:58…

Ramble and Jason sat silently on the edge of the roof, both of them looking closely at the reported area of the transaction.

Then, suddenly, the silence was cut in half with the sound of Ramble's voice.

"So, do you have any family?"

"…"

"Okay, maybe that's a touchy subject." Ramble thought to himself, then asking "What's the plan of attack when they get here?"

"…"

"Come on, at least say something."

"…"

Ramble sighed, and then refocused onto the scene. All he could see were the few beings down there, some seemingly walked with no direction and others were splayed out on the floor.

He then checked his scouter, reading off the time that it said.

"9:58, huh? Still no sight of them…" Ramble thought to himself, his eyes moving slowly around. He then slightly turned his head to look back at his supposed partner. "And what's his deal anyway? I didn't even know him before he introduced himself to me, what did I-"

Before he could finish his thoughts, the sound of wheels rolling over gravel cut through the dead silence, as multiple white vans marketed as dry cleanings started to pull up at the confirmed area.

"Well, guess I'll think about that later." Ramble said to himself, as both he and Jason both stood up and moved to get closer.

Ramble could see humans and tuffles get out of their vans, all of them wearing suits of their respective kinds. Eventually, a few men came out with a giant crate that had multiple locks on it and placed it down next to another man, and a tuffle came out with a briefcase that had multiple locks on it.

Ramble and Jason suddenly came to a stop, both of them lying down and peering over the roof. They couldn't hear the conversation that was happening, but they could tell what they were discussing.

Ramble looked closer, and saw that the crate had a label on it that stated: "Warning, unstable weaponry inside."

"Well, I guess that's our-" before he could finish, Jason was already gone at the scene, as he stood over the body of a tuffle that he took out.

Then, the tuffle that was standing with the briefcase then sneered, and signaled for the others to attack Jason. They all complied, as they all proceeded to attempt to tackle Jason. But before they even touched Jason, Ramble was there in a flash, kicking them all away.

Both the man that had sent the others to attack Jason and the tuffle that was holding the briefcase glared at them, as they both lifted their arms to point to attack at them, to which the smaller fry busted open and started using the ki cannons, the tuffle that had the suit case and the man who was talking with him both went back to their respective vehicles.

Ramble and Jason both got into their stances, before both of them separately leaped in to take on the horde of henchmen.

"Let's do this." Ramble thought, as he came into contact with the wave.