Kate~
Guess what, guess what? Mama and Papa are talking about moving to Almia to be with you! I really, really hope they say we can, it sounds so pretty! How's school? Is it nice? They better not be mistreating you, or they'll have to talk to me!
Please write back, we all miss you!
~Gracieda
Kate laughed quietly to herself again after reading over her little sister's letter for the umpteenth time. She hadn't changed a bit, asking about school when Kate hadn't even finished the first day!
Rhythmi peeped over Kate's top bunk. "What's that you've got there?" She asked. Kate smiled.
"A letter from my little sister, Gracieda," She answered. "I just sent a reply." Rhythmi nodded. "I just wrote to my mom and dad about you," She grinned, "I'll bet Keith did too!" She then said, "Hey, let's sneak out for a bit."
Kate wasn't sure why Rhythmi wanted to sneak out after hours, but if she had learned anything about the blonde in the last four hours; it was to do as she told you to.
Kate followed Rhythmi out of the girls' dormitory, noticing that no other girls were in bed.
When she exited, though, there was a storm of clapping which didn't make that much noise, seeing as there were only 24 students in the school. Kate clapped her hands over her mouth and blushed furiously.
When she finally found her voice, she finally squeaked out, "Why?" She saw Keith come out from the crowd.
"It's a sort of tradition that a guy named Spenser started around here some 30 years ago," He explained. "Everyone throws a party for the new kid, but there's a catch." He grinned, and Rhythmi took over.
"Five of us have hidden our Stylers in each of these rooms—Ms. April's room, Mr. Kincaid's room, the library, the staff room, and the basement. Find the Stylers," She winked, "And you win the party."
"Well then, let's get started!" Rhythmi clapped her hands. "Keith, you're going with her." Keith turned a most peculiar shade of red. "What? I thought it was you!"
"No, it's the one that sits on the right of the newbie!" Rhythmi chastised. Keith sighed dejectedly.
"Fine then, let's—" He was cut off by voices from downstairs.
"I think the students are out of bed!" Ms. April's voice rang out. "Don't run in the halls!" Wheedled Mr. Kincaid.
"Code Red!" Keith hissed. At once, every student concealed themselves expertly, and Kate saw Keith conceal himself behind a curtain that reached the floor, hiding his feet too.
Kate panicked.
"What do I do, what do I do?" She heard the teacher's voices getting closer. Finally, Keith's hand shot out from behind the curtain and grabbed her by the scruff of the neck, pulling her in.
"Idiot!" He hissed. He kept one hand clamped over her mouth while Ms. April and Mr. Kincaid talked nearby.
"I'm telling you, they werehere!" Mr. Kincaid insisted. "You're too uptight Mr. Kincaid," Ms. April's voice sighed. "Let's go back to bed."
There were fading footsteps and all was quiet for a few seconds. Then a collective sigh emerged from the other students.
"Well then, let's go!" Kate said happily, going down the stairs. Keith looked around at Rhythmi one more time with a face that seemed to say, 'Help me,' but Rhythmi just grinned and waved him off.
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It was dark.
Kate and Keith weren't far down the hall when they heard a scuffling noise.
"WAH!" Keith burst out. Kate flinched at his yell. "Wah! W-what was that?" They went a little farther to see…
"A Bidoof!" Kate suddenly said, and ran up to pet the fluffy brown Pokemon. Keith stared at her and the Bidoof for a moment, and then called out lamely, "I knew that!"
They decided on Ms. April's room first. Inside were the desks, the Styler Save Machine, and a whole lot of boxes. Keith shuddered.
"I want to get out of here quick, so I'll give you a hint," He said. "What wasn't here during the daytime?" Kate contemplated the question, and then said,
"The Save Machine!" Keith sweatdropped. "I see you are not the brightest of students." He said wisely. "I'll give you another hint—IT'S THE BOXES."
"Oh."
Kate then recalled about clearing targets with Ms. Claire in the Training Gym, and the Bidoof she had seen earlier.
"Wait here!" She told Keith and ran out.
Three.
Two.
One.
Zero.
"CAPTURE ON!"
The Bidoof had been asleep, so the Capture went smoothly. Kate then trudged back to where Keith was waiting and smashed all the boxes to pieces, which revealed some Pichu, a chair, and a few bottles of Mr. Kincaid's favorite hairspray. Finally the last one revealed a green School Styler.
"Oh, cool. That one's mine." Keith went over and picked it up, and next they went to Mr. Kincaid's room, where they fought their way through multiple Zubat to get to marshmallow boy Ponyo's Styler. Next was the library, where they continued using Bidoof to smash their way to Rhythmi's Styler.
The Staff Room was different, as there was a shy Pichu that scurried off when either one of the two got close. The Styler was hung around its neck.
"That way!"
"No, wait, it went over there!"
"Here, Pichu, Pichu, Pichu…"
"Idiot, like that's going work!"
"Sorry! Try and round it off here"
CRASH.
Keith had tackled the Pichu when it had jumped in the air, resulting in him falling on top of Kate. He felt a curiously warm feeling creep up his cheeks.
"Um, I got the Styler," He said lamely as the Pichu ran off. Kate seemed to be neutral to Keith being on top of her, and tried to wriggle loose. Keith's face burned up even more at the feel of her moving underneath him.
"Hey, wait, I'm getting off!" He said hastily, jumping off. Kate stood up and said, "Well, let's go to the basement!" She sounded rather cheerful. Keith stared at her for a moment, but then came back to Earth and said, "Y-yeah."
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The basement was even darker, and they had to use their Stylers to light the way.
Bidoof smashed their way through the dank halls, and they walked in silence suddenly Keith said, "Did you hear something?" Kate shook her head and said nervously, "Don't play jokes, Keith…!"
They kept walking until they reached the door to the storage room and Kate picked up the Styler in front of it when—
"Gastly… Gastly…" An eerie cry pierced the air, and four dark violet balls with eyes came floating out of the walls!
"AAAAAGGGGGHHHH!" They both shouted.
"Keith!" Kate said. Keith nodded.
Three.
Two.
One.
Zero.
"CAPTURE ON!
The tops spun out, and they tried circling the Gastly. Kate circled with her usual slow paced, patient technique, only to see that the Gastly she had tried capturing had disappeared and reappeared outside the circle.
Again and again Kate tried, but the Gastly kept slipping away, forcing her to start over. Finally Kate broke.
She immediately moved her arm much faster, so fast that she had captured the Gastly before it could teleport. She tried this on another Gastly whilst Keith captured the other two.
"Capture complete!" They both finally said. And they did their Ranger Poses. Suddenly the door banged open.
"WHO'S THERE?" Mr. Kincaid's voice boomed. And to those kids, Mr. Kincaid seemed much scarier that those Gastly.
"The basement is off limits to everyone but me!" He screeched. "Aw, shoot!" Keith said. He grabbed Kate's hand. "RUN FOR IT!"
And they were off, Mr. Kincaid's frantic shrieks of "Don't run in the halls" fading behind them.
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They charged into the common room where everyone was waiting.
Rhythmi grinned. "So, what happened in there?" Keith looked up, doubled over panting from all the stairs. "What—are—you—talking—about?" He panted. Ponyo the marshmallow boy grinned with her.
"Aw come on!" He said. "We heard you earlier when Keith said he would get off Kate, and now you come back breathing hard and holing hands?" Keith's features flamed up.
"No—wait—what—it's not—" He stammered. Ponyo rolled his eyes.
"No, wait, it's not, blah, blah, blah. I never lie!" He insisted. Kate stepped up.
"We fell over when we were trying to get that Pichu, and the breathing hard is because we just got away from Mr. Kincaid." She explained. "As for the hand part, I'm not sure…" Keith let go of her hand.
"Wait," Rhythmi said.
"Did you just say you were getting away from Mr. Kincaid?"
"…"
Everyone was quiet, but then one boy said, "What was Kincaid doing down there?" Kate blinked. "I don't know." Then she remembered something. "Come to think of it, where's Isaac?"
Isaac was down in the very place Kate and Keith had been chased out from.
Mr. Kincaid came back in. "How's it going, Isaac?" He asked. "Fine," Isaac answered. "I just need to reboot this chip and then we can test it." He sighed sadly.
"What's up?" Kincaid said. "I just wanted to go to—oh, never mind." He cut off quickly. He was thinking about the welcoming party held for Kate.
Mr. Kincaid grinned maliciously. "Isaac, I don't know what's troubling you, but put it out of your mind for now, for nothing could be more important that where you are now." He said, his voice as greasy as his hair sprayed head.
Isaac nodded. "Yes, Mr. Kincaid." He whispered.
Back at the common room, everyone was having a good time dancing and eating food that Keith had nicked from the kitchens. Kate and Rhythm were dancing with each other happily, and they looked like they were having a good time.
Ponyo strutted over to Keith, who was leaning against a wall. "What's up? Why aren't you dancing?" He asked. Keith shrugged.
"No reason." Ponyo sighed. "Someone's going to take her if you don't get a move on…" Keith looked over. "What?"
"Kate, of course!" Ponyo said, aghast. Keith went red. "What the heck? She's just a friend!" Ponyo sighed yet again. "Looks like I have to help." He put an arm around Keith.
"One, two!" He pushed Keith towards Kate and Rhythmi. He stumbled for a minute in front of them, and then sweatdropped.
"Um—sorry—I'll leave now." He tried to move away, but Kate and Rhythmi caught each of his hands.
"Oh, no, you don't!" Rhythmi grinned. "You're staying with us!" Kate giggled. Keith stared for a moment, but then smiled and said, "I'm going to kill Ponyo for this…"
As Ponyo and another boy watched the threesome laugh, talk, and dance, Ponyo remarked, "There's just one thing I don't get, though." The boy turned. "What's that?" He asked.
"Why are his best friends girls?"
