"So, which way is Pueltown?" Kate asked. Keith was the one that answered the question: "It's straight through Vien Forest, we went on a field trip there before you transferred."

Kate blinked. "O-oh… Did I miss a lot of the lessons?"

Keith smiled nervously. "Well, yeah, but you were one of the top students in class so it doesn't matter anyways."

Kate smiled. "I guess you're right."

Keith blinked owlishly at the happy expression and stared, only stopping when Tempo brought him back to his senses with Water Gun.

"What was that for?" Keith spluttered angrily.

"Bui bui buizel bui!" Tempo yelled.

"I am so focusing on the mission!" Keith protested. Crawford grinned. "Actually, I think you've been more focused on Spi—"

"Stop right there, hypocrite!" Keith cut in, his face blazing red. "Don't you dare pretend that this whole time you haven't been drooling over Lua—"

"DON'T SAY IT!"

This whole time, Kate and Luana had been chatting happily about what Darkrai (which seemed to be the current topic of conversation at the Base) and what its personality was like.

"I'm telling you, its gotta be like an awe-inspiring figure!" Luana was arguing. "Someone super dark and evil, like the arch nemesis in a video game…"

"N-no, I think that it would be really kind, but cool and mature at the same time…" Kate protested weakly.

Keith sweatdropped. "Instead of using a Legendary Pokémon's personality as a topic of conversation, how about we talk about something that's relevant to the mission?" He asked.

Crawford blinked. "Oh, you mean like your obvious crush on—"

"No. I meant something like Ollie."

Kate's face turned on a troubled expression. "That's true… He only ever eats small portions of meals at a time, and that's only because Elaine shoves them down his throat." She said. The others sweatdropped, remembering what dinner had been like three days ago.

FLASHBACK

Kate was scarfing down portions of her steak. Keith was staring at her worriedly.

"Kate, don't eat so fast. You'll choke." He advised. Kate looked up and pouted. "B-but Rhythmi's cooking is so good…" She mumbled through her full mouth. Rhythmi beamed at her happily.

Keith sighed and said irritably, "I know Rhyth's cooking is great. But could you just take the time to slow down and enjoy your food before swallowing?"

Kate glared at him, or at least did what she could give her meek personality. "Says you. You were the one who wanted to blow up that weird machine back in the cave straight from the get-go…" She protested. "Besides, Ollie's doing the same thing I am. Why don't you yell at him?"

Keith groaned, slapping his forehead. "Kate, the only reason Ollie is even eating our food is because Elaine is shoving it down his throat!"

The three kids looked over at the strange duo; Ollie was choking on an oversized piece of steak that Elaine was trying to shove down his throat. Luana hurriedly gave Elaine a glass of water, which she then poured all over poor Ollie's face. Keith turned and smirked at Kate.

"Now, unless you wanna end up like Ollie, repeat after me: Chewing is goooooood."

"…Chewing is good."

.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

Kate looked down nervously. The foursome was now almost out of Vien Forest. "I'm just worried, that's all." She commented. "He never speaks, and he seems to be getting thinner by the second…"

Keith, after noticing her sad expression, threw an arm around her shoulders playfully. "He-y. Ollie will be fine, just focus on the mission right now, 'K? You're cutest when you're smiling, so smile." He poked her cheek with his spare hand. "Smile, smile!"

Kate laughed tentatively. "I-I guess you're right." She answered, smiling.

Keith stared at her happy face, slowly registering how close they were, and immediately straightened up. "Hey, is that Lookout Ridge?" He said randomly, running ahead.

Luana's face lit up. "Hey, it is Lookout Ridge! I love this place!" She ran ahead with Keith, and Crawford and Kate followed soon after.

"W-wow…" Kate mumbled as she looked off of a large cliff. It gave a bird's-eye view of a huge city below them, and the sparkling sea with small, ant sized boats winking up at them. Kate pointed to the city below them. "Is that Pueltown?" She asked.

Crawford nodded. "Yep. Hey, Luana, show Kate what happens when you yell really loud from here!"

Luana thought about it, then she nodded. She walked up to the side of the cliff…

Took a deep breath…

And then…

"TALK, OLLIE!"

'…TALK, OLLIE… Talk, Ollie… Talk… Ollie… Ta…"

Kate blinked. Then she pointed a finger childishly at Luana. "It echoed!" She said. Keith rolled his eyes. "No kidding." He muttered. "Anyways, let's go."

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"W-wow."

…Was all Kate could say after seeing the gigantic Pueltown up close. It was huge, with glistening buildings fifty feet tall at least. Something wasn't right, though.

The Rangers' Partner Pokémon seemed agitated, and they were growling suspiciously. Suddenly a voice was heard. "Hey, Rangers! Just the people I wanted to see!"

The group turned to see a young man, maybe nineteen or twenty. He had pinkish-red hair and nicely tanned skin. "Howdy! The name's Brook!" He greeted loudly. "I'm in charge of the drawbridge north of this town, but that's beside the point. The point I'm trying to make here is: What became of the Pokémon around here?"

"What do you—oh, Arceus. Not again." Keith moaned as the group noticed that all the Pokémon seemed fazed and were dancing to some kind of strange beat, just like the ones in the cave.

"Excuse me, Brook, but have you seen any strange machines about lately?" Kate asked cautiously. Brook blinked.

"You mean those mailboxes?"

"WHY DOES EVERYONE THINK THESE ARE MAILBOXES?" Keith yelled. Crawford patted Keith's spiky hair awkwardly. "Now, now, don't get all frazzled over this." He laughed. Keith crossed his arms, muttering, "Says Mr. Frazzle… Afro… Man." Crawford rolled his eyes. "Nice try." He said.

Luana sighed. "Have you seen anyone suspicious around here?" She inquired. Brook nodded. "Some people in shady clothes, they were the ones dropping the mailboxes all over." He answered. "I TOLD YOU, THEY'RE NOT MA—" Keith started but Crawford held him back. "Yeah, yeah, save the enthusiasm for later." He grinned, giving Keith a noogie. Keith yelped. "Aaaaah! Save me, Kate!" Kate looked worriedly over at Crawford, but Crawford just shook his head and mouthed, 'Don't help him.'

Brook went on to say, "After that the Pokémon went all weird like they are now." Kate nodded. She pointed to a "mailbox" near them. "Keith, isn't that just like the one we saw in Nabiki Cave?" She asked.

Keith fought out of Crawford's grasp, panting. "Y… yeah. Looks like it." He gasped. Kate nodded. "So maybe a Water x2 move would work…?" She murmured. Keith grinned. "Water, huh? This looks like a job for the undefeatable Tempo!" Tempo grinned with his partner. "Buizel bui!"

Kate blinked. "But… Buizel only has enough power for a Water x1 move…" She said uncertainly. Keith looked deeply offended. "How dare you! Tempo isn't just any Buizel! He's my Buizel!" He protested. Kate sweatdropped.

"So that automatically makes him the best?"

"Why yes, it does!"

Kate sighed. "Alright, give it a shot. But if it doesn't work, I'm capturing that Bibarel I saw down by the river." She amended. Keith nodded eagerly. He pointed to the "mailbox" and shouted, "Tempo, use Aqua Jet!"

Tempo nodded, and then his body became surrounded by water and he shot towards the machine. The machine stuttered for a moment, then started sparking.

Keith blinked. "Oh, yeah… Forgot about that part." He laughed nervously. He then took a deep breath and yelled, "HIT THE DECK!" Everyone ducked before—

BOOM.

"…I never get tired of that." Keith snickered before helping Kate up. He turned to Tempo. "Hey, buddy, you OK?" Tempo nodded yes. Kate smiled and ran up to the water weasel. "Wow, Tempo, that was great! You really are stronger than most!" Tempo blushed a bit and scratched the back of his head. "Buizel bui." Keith raised an eyebrow. "Tempo, you better not be submitting to a girl that easily!" He said. Tempo just gave Keith a look that screamed, "What, are you a hypocrite?"

.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

Brook was scratching his chin. "If the Pokémon are going crazy and the city is being attacked, then the drawbridge is the least of my worries. How can I be useful here?" He muttered before striding off.

Unbeknownst to them, two fairly shady figures were stalking around the bridge above them.

"Heh, we're done. All the Gigaremo units are set. Finally." Very Shady Guy* grinned. Terribly Shifty Guy frowned. "Why is it that those Gigaremo machines are so ridiculously heavy?" He complained. "Four guys! That's what it takes to move one! Couldn't they have designed it with the guys who have to move it in mind?" Terribly Shifty Guy simply scoffed at his partner and the two walked off.

Back with the group of Rangers, Luana was looking worriedly after Brook, who was already several meters ahead. "Is he going to be alright?" She asked.

"No." The other three answered bluntly. Even the Partner Pokémon were shaking their heads no. Luana sweatdropped and said, "Anyways, let's take out the rest of these mailbo—"

"THEY'RE NOT MAILBOXES!"

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After about an hour, the team had taken out almost all of the mail—machines on the left side of town, and Crawford turned to Kate and Keith.

"Kate, Keith," Crawford said, "You guys go and take care of the right side of town. Luana and I will finish up here." Keith leered at him, saying, "And is there any specific reason that you just so happened to pair yourself with Lua—"

"Say it and you die."

"…" Keith simply stalked off, Kate following behind him worriedly. "U-um," Kate said nervously after a while, "Are you alrig—"

"EEEEEEEEEK!"

Keith started. "What was that?" The two ran down the city's eastern path to find a young girl with platinum blond hair surrounded by city Pokémon who were under the mail—machines' spell. Kate gasped. "K-Keith, that's…!"

"Isaac's sister… What was it, Melony or something?" He muttered. Kate sweatdropped. "I think it was Melody… But that's not the point!" She screamed. "Isn't that Brook over there with her?"

And indeed it was. Brook was standing in front of the mess, the Pokémon blocking him from Melody. "M-Mr. Brook…" Melody whimpered. "Don't worry, Melody!" Brook said importantly. "I'll help you!" He backed up very slowly, then ran forward whilst yelling what Keith would later entitle 'The Stupidest Phrase In The History Of Almia'.

"SUPER BROOK JUMP!"

Brook leaped over the Pokémon and in front of Melody. "Melody, are you alright?" He asked worriedly. Melody nodded, tears in her eyes. Brook looked up and sweatdropped. "Uh… Now how do we get back out?" He asked no one in particular.

Keith facepalmed. "Idiot. I don't care if he's an adult. He's an idiot." He muttered. He then sighed and called out; "Hey! We're going to destroy the machines, so hang tight for a sec!" Keith then turned to Kate. "Kate. There are two machines, and from what I've seen so far it seems as if the blue will break under electricity, and the green will break under fire. You've got Lyrical, so take care of the blue. As for me, I think I saw a Magby nearby after we destroyed the machines on the west side, so I'll get the green." He ordered. Kate nodded. "Got it!"

A few minutes later… (I need to finish this so I can sleep!)

Kate ran up to Melody and Brook. "Are you alright?" She asked frantically. Melody nodded again, sniffling. She said, "I… I saw some bad people going towards the harbor…" Kate nodded sympathetically.

Meanwhile, Keith was looking around. "…Melody. Where's Isaac?" He asked carefully. Melody's head whipped up. "H…He's doing mechanic work for a big company. He won't tell me which…" She murmured quietly. Keith nodded, silently staring into space. Brook said, "I'm going to take little Melody here back home. …Hey. You OK?"

Keith snapped back to reality, mumbling, "Yeah—I've just got a bad…" He glanced at Melody. "…Never mind." Keith then started striding off towards the harbor. Kate followed him.

Silence ensued for a few moments, but then Kate spoke up. "Keith… Do you think something is wrong with Isaac?"

Keith stopped in his tracks. "…Isaac seemed really happy around the end of the year. Too happy. I dunno, I just… Maybe I don't trust him anymore." He scowled at a wall. Kate smiled gently.

"I don't think that's true." She said. "Keith, you're a very trusting person. You had a lot of friends back in school. The only people I ever saw you distrust were Mr. Kincaid and that man who stole our Stylers, but that's normal, isn't it?"

Keith simply kept walking. After a few more seconds he muttered, "Maybe. But I still can't shake the feeling that something's wrong with him, Kate." Kate nodded understandingly. "Then we need to get to the bottom of it." She answered.

Keith looked up and stared at her. "…Yeah… Yeah." He grinned back. "I was right in telling you this. If I had told someone else, they would have panicked and made some kind of complicated plan I wouldn't understand. But you, Kate… You're always so rational…

"…I respect you for that." He finished, face turning slightly pink. Kate smiled again. "Thank you." She said sincerely.

Keith looked up. "…Did you hear something?" He asked, running ahead quickly. He stopped in front of an alley between two buildings. "…Kate. I think there're more machines down here…"

The two ran down the path and peeped around the corner to see a group of shady men in black outfits and a purple emblem standing around another mail—machine. One man who looked like the leader had a Toxicroak standing next to him, obviously under the trance as well. Kate was staring at them determinedly. "Keith, let's go back to the west side and get Crawford and Luana. OK?" She looked next to her, but there was no one there now. "…K-Keith?"

But Keith was already standing in front of the group, yelling, "I dunno who you goons are, but I'm going to make you pay for making all the Pokémon go weird!"

"Keith—!" Kate gasped, running over to the scene. "Were you listening to a word I said?"

"No."

"…"

"Who are you two? Rangers?" The leader said, alarmed. One goon said, "Leave him to me, sir! I'll take care of them with my ultimate team of Pokémon…"

'Ultimate team?' Kate thought. 'We'd better be careful…'

"GO, MY RATTATA!"

"Eh?"

Just then, six Rattata jumped out from behind some crates. Keith raised an eyebrow, obviously unimpressed. He then took his Styler and captured the group in two loops without a word. The Pokémon then ran off in separate directions.

"NOOOO! MY RATTATA!" The goon wailed, tears springing to his eyes. The leader scowled. "Guess we've got no choice." He muttered. "Toxicroak, go!"

The Toxicroak sprang forward. Kate whipped out her Styler.

Three.

Two.

One.

Zero.

"CAPTURE ON!"

The Capture Disc popped out and started circling the Toxicroak rapidly. However, it swiped violently at the Line, breaking it and damaging Kate's Styler. Kate gasped, feeling her arm shake violently. Keith was now taking on six more Rattata. When those were gone, another group of them ran up to take their place. "How many of these things do you have?" He yelled angrily.

After about ten minutes, Kate was halfway through the Toxicroak's Friend Gauge, and she was getting impatient. "Lyrical!" She screamed, and Lyric jumped into the Capture Disc and filled it with Electric power. The new ability paralyzed the Toxicroak during the capture, but only slightly. It was obvious that it was ineffective. Finally, the time limit ran out and the Disc returned to normal. Kate scowled, now the Toxicroak was madder than ever.

"Tempo!" Keith commanded; Tempo understood what he meant and ran over to Kate. Kate gaped; was using someone else's Partner even legal? However, she flicked the bubble that the Water Disc made towards the Toxicroak, and it was entrapped. She then captured it with ease, and it fled.

Keith was on his seventh group of Rattata. When they were caught, the goon was finally out of Rattata. He gaped. "M—my Rattata…" He sobbed. "HAH!" Keith laughed in triumph.

"We gotta scoot! C'mon!" The boss commanded, and the baddies picked up the mail—machine and carried it to a boat, where it was loaded and they drove off.

"Dang it!" Keith cursed. "They got away…"

Just then, Brook came running up and saw the retreating boat. "They're getting away!" He yelped. "But no fear! I may not look it, but I'm a great swimmer!" He backed up a few meters and…

"IDIOT!" Keith yelled, "Don't—"

"SUPER BROOK JUMP!"

SPLASH.

"What was that?" A voice said. Kate and Keith turned to see Luana, Crawford, and a fisherman running towards them. The fisherman smirked, seeing Brook dog paddling towards the now disappearing boat. "He jumped in, huh?" He asked. "Don't worry. Brook's a pretty good swimmer, but he's not about to catch up to any boat. You lot just go back to Vientown." The Rangers nodded uncertainly, but just then Brook clambered back onto the dock. He gaped at the other five and said dumbly,

"T-They got away…!"

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When the team arrived back at the Base, a small celebration was held for the triumph of driving the mysterious team away. Rhythmi and Elaine were sitting alone at the Recharging counter. Elaine looked over at Rhythmi. "Hey."

"Hm?" Rhythmi said idly, recharging the Rangers' Stylers. "What do you think about Kate and Keith?" Elaine asked.

Rhythmi looked up and smiled. "Keith is obviously in love with Kate, but he's in denial. Kate is too dense to realize it."

Elaine drummed her fingers on the counter impatiently. "I know that much, but why is Keith in denial?" She inquired. Rhythmi sighed.

"It's just a guess, but… I think that Keith doesn't believe he's good enough for her." She murmured. Elaine blinked.

"Can I punch him? Hard?" She snarled. Rhythmi sweatdropped. "It's just that Keith sees so many good things in Kate, and so he's constantly comparing himself to her. It's hard not to." A slight pause, then Rhythmi said bluntly, "To put it simply, they're both complete idiots."

Elaine turned her head to look at the celebrating Rangers. Keith was bragging about how he had taken on seven groups of Rattata.

"Well," The Mechanic chuckled, "There are a lot of idiots in this place."