"Almost there… aaaalmost theeeeere…!"
A person was sneaking across the floor. A woman. She was just at that big red machine just waiting to be dismantled. She picked up her sledgehammer and was about to raise it when—
"ELAINE THE MECHANIC." A huge voice boomed, resounding off the walls. "PUT THE SLEDGEHAMMER DOWN. I REPEAT; PUT THE SLEDGEHAMMER DOWN."
Kate, Keith and Rhythmi were standing in the door way in their pajamas. Kate was holding a megaphone and she seemed to be having fun with it. "I REPEAT; PUT THE SLEDGE—" Keith snatched the megaphone away from her. "I think it's safe to say that Rhythmi and I will never trust you with this again." He said irritably. It was, after all, only two 'o clock in the morning.
"Keith! Give it back! Come on!" Kate tried to reach the megaphone, but to no avail. Keith was holding it too far out of her reach. Kate pouted. "Oh, and Elaine, BACK TO YOUR ROOM!" Keith boomed on the megaphone. He grinned. That thing was fun.
"What are you kids doing up at two AM anyways?" Elaine protested. "We heard you muttering to yourself as you went to the machine." Rhythmi rolled her eyes. Elaine sweatdropped. She really needed to break that habit. "Back." Kate tugged Elaine back to her room. Elaine stared longingly at the red machine. Then something in her mind clicked.
"Where did you kids get a megaphone anyways?"
"…Keith. Don't ask me how he got it."
"Ah."
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The next morning, everyone was having breakfast at the Ranger Base. Rhythmi reached for the syrup (they were having pancakes), but Kate snatched it up right before she could clasp her fingers around the bottle.
Rhythmi looked over at Kate. "Kate, give me the syrup."
Kate looked as though she had to think about it. "Hm… no." She finally answered. Rhythmi glared.
"Give it."
"No."
"Give it."
"No."
"Give. Me. The. Syrup. NOW."
"No."
"KATE!" Rhythmi snapped and finally started to pull on Kate's pigtail. "Ow!" Kate exclaimed. "Ok, ok, I'm sorry, Keith told me to! He said he'd give me his cookie if I did!"
"And I will keep that promise." Keith cut in happily, putting the chocolate-chip cookie on Kate's plate. "Yay!" Kate said happily. She then took a bite out of the cookie. Keith smirked, and then looked at Rhythmi.
"Just my little way of getting back at you for chasing me with my own Styler back then." He murmured smugly. Rhythmi grinned, then wrote a note on her napkin and slid it to Keith. It read:
Shut. Up. Or else I'll ask Kate to punch you again, and NOT MISS.
Keith winced. "Uh… Kate? Would you ever try and hit me again?" He asked anxiously. Kate looked over at him, crumbs on her mouth left from devouring the poor cookie. "Well… It depends." She said thoughtfully. "If you were being an airhead and acting like a jerk to me or Rhythmi, then I guess I'd have to knock some sense into you…"
Keith went pale.
"But there's no way that'd happen, right?" Kate said cheerfully. "Because Keith is nice."
"Nice to you, maybe." Rhythmi murmured smartly. She cast a knowing glance at Keith. His pale color went to ghost white, then flaming red.
"Shut up, Rhythmi!"
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"OK then, today will be just patrol for Kate and Keith." Barlow announced. "There are a lot of people in distress over the fire, so try and convince them the worst is over."
Kate and Keith nodded. "Yes, sir!" They said respectfully and left the Base, their Pokémon following. Barlow blinked.
"…Why don't you ever respect me like that?" He asked Crawford irritably. Crawford made a disgusted snort of derision.
"I am not like Spiky." He said in a dignified voice, referring to Kate.
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"Ah, Rangers!" An old woman called out. "I need a small favor." Kate and Keith walked over to the elder.
"Y-yes?" Kate asked politely. "What's up?" Keith inquired carelessly. "…Well… Deep inside Vien Forest, there are Combee. They usually share their honey with me, but after the fire, they aren't at their old nest, so I'm worried they changed location. Could you find one and bring it to me? It would do me so much good…"
"Yes, we'll do our best!" Kate smiled. "Let's go, Keith."
As they walked, Keith scoffed. "Another Quest… I want something exciting to happen…" He grumbled. "Keith, we just saved the Vien Forest," Kate scolded. "Wait until that professor gets here, and then we might get a Mission!"
Keith blinked. "Come to think of it, who is this professor guy?" He asked curiously. Kate shrugged. "Dunno… I think his name was Hastings or something."
Keith stroked Tempo, who was on his shoulder. "Well, we'll find out by tomorrow, anyway…"
Kate nodded. She then pointed. "Look!" She exclaimed. A Combee was poking around at various flowers that had survived the fire, but when it saw them the Combee buzzed off. "This way!" Keith yelled, grabbing Kate's hand and running off.
When the Combee dove into a thick part of trees, and the two moved after it, they couldn't believe their eyes.
The first thing they noticed was the honey hanging from the trees all around. Then all the Combee buzzing everywhere. But then they noticed the giant Vespiquen sitting in the midst of it all. It didn't look angry, though. All in all, the sight was very beautiful.
Suddenly, Keith noticed that he was still hanging on to Kate's hand, although she seemed to be oblivious to this. His face tinged a slight red and he released it. Kate captured a small Combee and they left the forest.
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"Here's your Combee!" Kate said happily, giving the Combee to the old woman. The woman, needless to say, was delighted and walked back to her house with the little Bee Pokémon. "Is there anyone else that needs help?" Keith asked. Suddenly, Kate's Styler rang.
"Voicemail! Voicemail!" Rhythmi's voice rang out. Her face blinked onto the screen. "Rhythmi!" Kate smiled. "Keith and I wanted to ask you something!" Rhythmi grinned. All she'd been doing was checking up on them, but it seemed they needed help. "Sure, what's up?"
"Well, we wanted to know who this Professor dude that's coming tomorrow is." Keith said.
Rhythmi fell off her chair.
"YOU DON'T KNOW WHO PROFESSOR HASTINGS IS?" She screamed, climbing back into view of the screen. "I would expect that from you, Keith, but Kate?"
Kate blushed. Keith scowled.
"Excuse me," He muttered under his breath.
"Professor Hastings is the man that designed your Stylers!" Rhythmi informed. "He's the Head of Technology at the Ranger Union!"
"W…wow." Kate stammered. "Yeah," Rhythmi answered happily. "So I guess you got to meet him when you went to the Union on Field Day, huh, Rhythmi?" Keith asked interestedly. "What's he like?"
Rhythmi blushed slightly. "He's brilliant, but he's not very good with names…" She mumbled. "He kept calling me…"
"What?" Kate asked. "What did he call you?"
"…Misery."
Rhythmi hung up embarrassedly.
Kate and Keith blinked. Then they turned to each other.
And they burst into laughter.
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"Excuse me? Rangers?"
Kate and Keith were stopped by a young man who looked to be at least eight years older than the two of them. "Is something wrong?" Kate asked.
"Yes. Actually…" The man grasped Kate's hand and held it up.
"You're cute. Wanna go on a date?"
The man smiled.
Kate went red.
Keith was felt a reaction coming on, consisting of a few excellent swear words and the phrase "back off".
"I-I'm eleven!" Kate stammered, pulling back her hand and grasping it as though it had been bitten. The man smiled again. "Ah, age is but a number, my dear!" He sighed.
Keith stepped in front of Kate protectively. "If you don't have a Quest for us, then I suggest you back off." He threatened. "We're on duty!" Keith was inwardly disappointed he hadn't gotten to use the swear words.
The man snickered. "Actually, I do have a Quest." He grinned. "A cargo ship dropped a bunch of boxes and now they're littering the coast. Could you get rid of them?"
Keith was surprised and angered. "You ask my friend to go out with you out of nowhere and you expect us to-!" Kate clapped a hand over his mouth. "Sure, we'll get right on it! Right, Keith?"
Keith scowled at her, but then grabbed Kate's hand and led her off.
When they were out of sight and hearing, Keith whirled to face Kate. "What is your problem?" He yelled. "I go off trying to catch a thief by myself and you nearly kill me, but a guy who is in, like, his early twenties asks you out and you ACCEPT HIS QUEST? You should have punched him or slapped him or kicked him or at least told him you weren't interested! But all you said was 'I'm eleven'? I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU ACTUALLY ACCEPTED THE QUEST!"
Keith had run this whole lecture on one breath, and he stopped to breath for a few seconds. Kate tried to take this opportunity to speak, but she was cut off again. "And why the heck did he call you cute? YOU ARE NOT CUTE!" Keith shouted.
And then Kate snapped.
She walked over to Keith in two long strides…
…And she hit him.
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It was only a slap, but it left a red mark on Keith's face nevertheless.
"Would you just be quiet, Keith?" Kate screamed. "I can take care of myself! I don't need you looking after me! You are not my father!"
Keith blinked, obviously shocked by her outburst. Then he remembered.
'Uh… Kate? Would you ever try and hit me again?'
'Well… It depends. If you were being an airhead and acting like a jerk to me or Rhythmi, then I guess I'd have to knock some sense into you…
'But there's no way that'd happen, right? Because Keith is nice.'
"Either way, just leave me alone!" Kate yelled and stormed off, Lyrical trailing behind her.
Keith stood there silently. Then Tempo spoke up. "Buizel. Buizel bui." Keith scowled.
"I wasn't that hard on her!" He retorted. He could understand everything Tempo said.
"Buizel bui?"
"I just didn't like that guy coming on to her! He was a creep!"
"Buizel buizel bui!"
"I know she's old enough to make her own decisions. But Tempo, he was like eight or nine years older than her! Do you really think I was going to sit back and—"
"BUIZEL BUI?"
"W—why? Err…"
…
"…Don't look at me that."
…
"…Ok, FINE! I'LL GO AND APOLOGIZE!"
Keith stalked off angrily. But he couldn't stop Kate's words from before from echoing into his head again and again.
'Because Keith is nice.'
'Because Keith is nice.'
'Because Keith is nice…'
'Man,' Keith thought angrily, 'I am an idiot.'
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When Keith reached the beach, all the said crates from before were smashed. Kate must have carried out the Quest herself.
"Then where the heck is she?" Keith muttered angrily. He noticed footsteps leading to Breeze Hill. He ran up the hill to see familiar spiky pigtails.
"…I know, Lyrical, but he didn't have to yell like that!" Kate sighed angrily. "Keith… almost never yells…"
"Chipa pachi." Lyrical cooed.
"B—but I—"
"Chip."
"But he—"
"Pach."
"But why should I apologize?"
"Chipa pachi pachi!"
"…He was concerned about my safety?"
Keith had gotten the sense to hide behind a bush by this time and listen in. His face went red.
"…Fine. I'll go look for him."
Kate got up from her sitting position and walked towards the stairs.
And right to where Keith and Tempo were hiding.
"What do I do?"
"Buizel!"
"She's coming right this way!"
"Buizel bui!"
"But she'll think I'm a stalker or something!"
"Buizel bui?"
"What in the name of Arceus made you think I was a stalker?"
"Keith?"
Oops. Keith and Tempo looked slowly upward to see Kate looking wide-eyed down at them.
Tempo looked at Keith and saluted. "Bui bui." Tempo then ran off. "OH, YOU'RE SUCH A GREAT HELP!" Keith yelled after him. He then turned to Kate and noticed that Lyrical was also absent.
"U-um…"
"I-I… Agh…"
"Sorry!" They both said at the same time. Kate blinked. "Wait, what?" She asked. Keith blushed faintly. "I could've been more graceful about the creep—I mean, about that other guy." He said. "I was out of line. Sorry."
Kate went a slight pink. "No, it's fine…" She answered politely. "Oh," She smiled embarrassedly. "And I know I'm not cute."
"Hm? Oh, I know." Keith said absentmindedly as he walked back down the stairs.
"You're way more than that."
Kate blushed.
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That night, everyone was sat down at dinner. Keith and Rhythmi looked around.
"Where's Kate?" Rhythmi asked. "Oh, she went to bed early. Said she was tired." Luana answered.
Keith then excused himself quickly and went up to the dorms.
He entered his and Kate and Rhythmi's room and snickered softly when he saw Kate in full on sleep mode with the AC right next to her. He hesitated, but then sat down on the edge of her bed.
And then he ran through all the things Kate was in his head.
Good at capturing.
Smart.
Shy.
Easily frightened (oh, how he got a kick out of that).
Caring.
Kind.
And last but certainly not least, idiotic. Oh, was she idiotic.
But evem that was another one of the many things he admired about her.
'And besides,' He grinned to himself, 'She can't get any more idiotic than me.'
Needless to say, Lyrical and Tempo were quite satisfied with themselves when they slunk back into the base that night.
