DB : And welcome back to another chapter of this Story/Fanfic. Sorry it took me so long to update my Fanfic, as I was busy, having issues with Internet, and was celebrating Chinese New Year.

May : So that explains the delay. And what's with the "/"? Can't you just choose one?

Brendan : May, just drop it.

DB : Now, in this chapter, we will have some action for once as well.

May : He literally ignored my question!

DB : Now onto the Disclaimer. Kate, will you do the honours.

Kate : Sure, DB does not own Pokemon, nor Pokemon Rangers, during the making of this story/fanfic.

May : Even she does it!

Brendan : Let's get on with the chapter...

Chapter 5 : The Return of the Darkness

The journey to the city with a Gym was rather simple, for both Brendan and May. Not only did May got to train her Oshawott while battling some of the trainers on the route, Brendan gets to teach May about the battle as well, helping her learn the basics of Pokemon Battle. Kate too was enjoying the battle between Trainers as there were a lot of actions during a battle, and not having to worry about controlled Pokemons and the evil organisation. Watching Brendan showing May how to battle was quite entertaining as well, but in a cute way too. She could tell that these two teenagers would become more than just friends.

"Hey, look!" May called out, caughting both Brendan and Kate's attention. Upon the end of the route, they have finally reached their destination, the small town of Accumula. May remembered that she met both the professor and Bianca at this town. The town was just a simple town, with houses built beside the walkway, a Pokemon Centre and a PokeMart nearby, and a big park located on their left, but there was no Gym in the town at all. This made May a little sad, as she was looking forward to facing her first Gym Battle.

Brendan didn't feel all too upset about it, learning that the Gym was in the next city. But getting to it was a problem, as it took them all morning to get to the town, so they were feeling rather hungry from their journey. "So, who's up for lunch?" Brendan asked, which caught May's attention.

If anything that could take May's off of things, then it would be food. She always love eating, especially ramen since it was her favourite dish of them all. She would just gobble them up without any second thoughts, eating more than a dozen bowls. "I'm in!" May exclaimed, can't wait for their lunch to set up. Kate just enjoyed the sight between two great friends.

"Don't they look cute?" Kate asked her partner in a low voice. She doesn't want the two teenagers hear what she was saying. Pachi nodded in agreement, seeing both Brendan and May were heading towards the park.

Once they had settled down under a tree, Brendan began taking out some plates of food from his bag. May saw that it consist of rice balls, some cream puffs, and a couple of ramen in a cup, all kept inside a plastic bag neatly. "Kate, would you mind getting some water from the Pokemon Centre?" Brendan asked, handing her a small kettle.

"Sure," with that, Kate took the kettle before heading down towards the centre.

He prepared a small electric stove before plugging it to a solar panel, which was placed under the sun for power. "So, I heard you love eating ramen," Brendan asked, which caught May by surprise. How did he knew that she loved ramen when she didn't even said anything. Maybe he knew her more than she thinks, as she nods with her face in bright red.

"She looks cute blushing like that," Brendan thought, before shaking it off knowing that his mind had came back to haunt him. Though that was just overdoing it, even if his mind was teasing him as well. "This is getting ridiculous, there is no way I like her, since I barely know her!" he screamed in his mind, trying to get it off of his shoulder.

"What's the matter, Brendan?" May asked, noticing Brendan's expression changed into a blush. Something was definitely up in his mind, and she was going to find out as she held his hand. This made Brendan all tense up, as the feeling of May's hand on his brought him back to reality.

"I-It's n-nothing," he stuttered, looking away from May to avoid eye contact. This made Brendan's heart skip a beat, as he could feel May's presence nearer.

"Well, you aren't looking at me and you are stuttering, so something is definitely wrong," May was trying to get Brendan to talk. She wanted to know what he was thinking, knowing that she was getting closer to his face when the sound of footsteps came.

"Hey guys!" Kate called out. This made Brendan turn his head around, almost kissing May in progress. Even though they didn't kiss at all, this made both Brendan and May blush madly. Not only were they close to kissing each other, Kate saw them in their position as well.

"H-hey Kate," Brendan said, a little relief that Kate had return with the kettle.

"Here's the kettle," she gave Brendan the kettle, which was filled with water. He noticed that Kate didn't ask anything about what he and May were doing. Like she didn't know anything about it and ignore what they were doing while she was getting the kettle filled up. This made Brendan feel a little more comfortable, since he doesn't want to explain what they were up to.

"Thanks," he thanked her while placing the kettle on the stove he prepared, as that thanks wasn't only for the filled up kettle. He raised the temperature of the stove to get the water boiling. While waiting for the water to boil, he took out his Snivy's Poke ball, before calling it out.

"Sni?" it asked, wondering why it was called out when there wasn't a battle. Though it was quickly pushed aside when Brendan began giving him some Pokepuff. He enjoyed eating them, rubbing his belly in satisfaction.

"You're such a glutton," Brendan laughed as he gave another puff to his Snivy, who quickly ate it all without any second thoughts. The Snivy just ran around him to show that he was really satisfied with his meal, and wanted to play with him now. Brendan understood this and took out a bouncy ball before tossing it off, for Snivy to chase after it. After a few moments, Snivy came back with the ball in hand, and began to nudge May on her arm.

"Hey, May, I think he wants you to toss the ball," Brendan told her, to which she took the ball and patted Snivy's head.

"Alright, I'll play with you," with that, she tossed the ball in the opposite direction. Snivy then ran towards the direction May threw the ball at. It didn't take long when he came back to nudge onto May's wrist again, only for her to toss the ball again.

Kate was leaning against the trunk of the tree, enjoying the view of how the Snivy was really playful, and sometimes a glutton when it comes to food. She took out a small metal cylinder, before twirling it in her hands. She remembered her training with Kellyn about combat with weapons that aren't dangerous, like her bare hands or a rod. They proved useful when there weren't any Pokemon nearby to capture nor when their Partners were really tired. Though since Almia was one again at peace, and only minor task was at hand, she only got to use her metal rod once, but that was when a thief stole someone's purse.

At least she was able to use it once, though it was a few months ago before she was able to get assign to out of region's missions. This made it much more fun and interesting, as Kellyn was already assign to other region's missions after becoming a Top Ranger. She was a bit jealous about how he could get assign to missions at Johto, Kanto and even Sinnoh. She even heard that he bumped into Jackie once, after the Temple incident, with the fall of The Phantom. Kellyn took the pirate, and his lackey, with him on a Wailord to the Union since he was on his way Sinnoh anyway. They were locked up in a cell that was ready for their arrival, since Jackie told his Operator about them.

Kate remembers their small conversation right before Kellyn left for Sinnoh. After that conversation, Kate had began to grow some feelings for Kellyn even more than before, something that which she doesn't know for herself as well. She wondered what it was, and ponders on what could it be. Kellyn was a sweet, kind and helpful kind of guy, and never turns down a mission to help those in need. Though she wished she could go with him to those kind of missions, so that she could spend her time with him. She realised that it could be love, the nagging feeling in her heart. "What am I thinking? He is just a friend, my best friend for crying out loud!" Kate snapped at herself. She doesn't want to think too much about it as she tries to find something else to keep her mind off.

She remembered about what had happened earlier between Brendan and May when she came back. She doesn't want to embarrass those two teenagers, so she didn't question either of them. Though she had to admit, they make a cute couple. If Rhythmi was here, she would somehow try anything to get these two together. Kate just chuckled at that thought, knowing full well that it will make both Brendan and May's face completely red.

"Alright, time to pack up!" Brendan called out, which brought Kate back to reality. Brendan had filled up the remaining boiled water into Thermos to keep it warm if needed, while May was finishing up her 8th bowl of ramen... wait, 8th?! Kate wondered how did May could eat so much and never gain weight. Maybe it had to do with her metabolism, but she didn't want to question about it and began to help the teenagers out. It didn't take long as Brendan's bag was filled up and his Snivy was recalled.

Once they were out of the park, they were about to continue their journey to the next city when Kate caught something just her corner of her eye. There were 2 dark figures running into a small opening of the forest and towards the hills. This made Kate suspicious knowing full well that the figures could be Team Dim Sun grunts.

"You guys go on ahead, I have to get back to Prof. Juniper to grab something I left. Will meet you guys at the gym," this made the 2 teenagers a little surprise.

"Well, alright. Just hurry back," with that, they parted ways, with both Brendan and May heading towards the next city while Kate was heading towards where the 2 figures disappeared to. She made sure that the teenagers were out of sight before beginning to follow the 2 strange figures into the forest through the small opening. As she walks deeper, she made sure she leave a trail back to the opening to avoid getting lost in the forest.

In no sooner when she heard some voices a few feet from where she stopped. As quietly as possible, Kate hurriedly hid behind a tree before taking a peek over at the side of the trunk. Between the bushes and trees, she could make out 2 grunts of Team Dim Sun. Though there was something off about the uniform they wore, something different about it from the last time she saw them back at Almia. Whatever it was, they were still grunts of the evil organisation, and she will have to take them down. The small area made it difficult to use her metal rod as she needed the space, so that was out of the question. Instead, she scanned the area for any Pokemon that could aid her in this situation, and there were a few Normal types around.

"Guess it will do. Capture On," she said softly, hoping to take them out with a surprise attack. She began to direct the disc around a Glameow, encircling it. A light was flashed before the disc flew back towards Kate. "Capture complete," the Pokemon then approached her.

"I need you to use Tackle on one of them," Kate instructed, which the Glameow nodded before going off to tackle one of the grunt. Kate's partner, Pachirisu, was already waiting on branch over the grunts. The timing must be perfect as Kate wanted to avoid combat with them in the forest. Right as Glameow began to attack the grunt on the left with Tackle, Pachirisu released a Thunderbolt on the other remaining grunt. This cause one of the grunt to be knock out cold, while the other to be paralyse.

Once Kate was sure it was safe to come out, she emerged from behind the tree and approach the grunt. "Thanks Glameow for the help," with that, the said Pokemon ran back into the wild. When she was beside him, she kneel down on one of her leg as she began to question him while her Pachirisu climbed onto her shoulder.

"Alright now, talk mister. I want to know why Team Dim Sun is doing in Unova," it was more of a demand than a question, but she wanted the answers now. The grunt just stayed silent, which made Kate a little surprise since the grunts were always talkative. Something was really wrong here, and not to mention suspicious. "These two can't just enter a forest without a reason. Unless..." then it clicked.

There was some rustling of crumpled leaves nearby, and she knew what it meant. Kate jump out in time as a razor sharp leaf was shot from behind the bushes, nearly hitting her. She noticed that it was able to embed itself into a rock. She quickly took out her metal cylinder before pressing a button at the top. In an instant, it grew into a 6 feet metal rod as Kate got ready to fight. "I hope there is enough space around here" it was still a little hard to move around with the rod, but she had to defend for herself from a possible attack. It was just a minute since the first strike, but nothing more than that came. This made Kate even more confuse, and she began to wonder whether was this just some sort of a diversion or were they slowing her down just so the other grunts could reach their goal.

She look back down at the paralyse grunt, and realised that both him and the unconscious grunt had somehow disappeared. "O-kay, what just happened here?" she scratch the back of her head as she retracted back her metal rod into a small cylinder before hooking it back onto her belt. This made it a whole lot more complicated, and not only did she lost two grunts right under her nose, she didn't even get an answer for her question. She just sighed at her own lost and stood back up. She look back at the bush the leaf was shot from, and knew that the person behind it was long gone. Looking back down at the leaf that was embedded into the rock, she put on a glove before gently pulling it out. Despite being a leaf, it was incredibly razor shape and could cut through anything. Slowly, Kate took out a cloth before wrapping around it, preventing it from injuring her and her friends. Once everything was settled, and look over to see that her partner was still perched onto her shoulder.

"I guess we better join the others. C'mon Pachi," with that, Kate follow back her trail out of the forest and back into Town. She pondered whether to just run down the route to try and catch up with them, or just capture a flying Pokemon to take her to the next city. Even if she wanted to get there right now, she chose to catch up to Brendan and May on foot. She might be able to find a few of the grunts along the way if she could.

Meanwhile, back at Vientown Ranger Base, Barlow and Crawford were still scanning the monitors of Unova for any signs of Team Dim Sun when the doors open. Barlow turn to see who was it, hoping it was Kellyn that had returned. However, it was just Luana and Elaine who had returned from their 3 days break. He was hoping that Kellyn would return soon from Sinnoh to help Kate with the situation. Then he remembered that Kate had somehow managed to put up a temporary base in Proffesor Juniper's home.

"Luana, Elaine, I need your help with this," Barlow spoke, causing both the ranger and mechanic to stand in front of him in a line.

"What is it, sir?" Luana asked, not knowing what was going on around the base at the moment.

"Luana, I want you to follow me to Unova region to get our temporary base set up. Elaine, I need you to head over to the Ranger Union and let Chaiperson Erma know about this. Crawford, follow Elaine to the Union and get Rhythmi to go through the region as fast as possible. We need her to help with operating our comm and you to spot any threat caused by them. Everyone got that?" Barlow, being the the leader, instructed everyone. There was a cried of agreement before they started to leave the base.

"Oh, and Crawford, try to get the other 2 Top Rangers to help us out too if you could," Barlow spoke in a serious tone. Crawford nodded, knowing what he meant as he began to run towards the Union with Elaine.

"Ready, Luana?" Barlow asked, readying his styler.

"Ready," she took out her own styler too, as they spotted a couple of Pidgeot flying high above in the sky.

"Capture On!" they both yelled in unison as they ejected the disc from their stylers and straight at the 2 Pokemon. Ever since Kate had fiddled with their disc ejection in their stylers, the capture disc could be shot even further than before. They then move their stylers to guide the disc around the 2 Pidgeot, in which they both succeeded as a white light was emitted from the 2 Pokemon. The disc was later returned back to the styler while the Pokemon landed right in front of them.

"Capture complete," they said in unison.

"I have to give credit to Kate, she really does know her way around with stylers more than Elaine," Barlow commented, which in the distance, the said person sneeze for some unknown reasons.

"C'mon, let's go!" with that, both Luana and Barlow clamber onto the Pidgeot back before taking off into the sky.

Once they were in the sky, the Pidgeots would be flying towards Unova right now. And at that moment, Luana was thinking about something. "Sir, why have Kellyn not return from Sinnoh yet? Didn't he rescued that Riolu from some evil thugs and calmed some of the Psyducks that is in the way on one of the route?" those questions caught Barlow off guard, which almost made him fell off from the Pokemon's back.

After regaining his balance, Barlow began to find an answer to those questions. "Now that you mention it, it does sounds suspicious. Once we get to Unova, I'll call the Union about it to see if they know anything about it," this made Luana a little more easy, yet it doesn't put the fact that Kellyn haven't return for a few months.

"I just hope he could get to Unova in time to help Kate, and the same goes for Keith," Barlow couldn't agree more about what Luana said. Keith and Kellyn were Almia's best Top Rangers too, which goes the same for Kate, Sven and Wendy. Since the trouble at Unova had begun a few days ago, they only sent Kate to investigate about the transmission they received, but now it had gotten serious. They recently received a Voicemail by Kate about a couple of Team Dim Sun grunts being different from what they dealt with in the past. Not only were they less talkative, they had become more secretive and their outfits had some kind of design change.

However, Kate didn't include the part about the razor shape leaf which almost hit her. This might force her to return back to the Ranger Union and wait for back up. With Sven and Wendy being in a top secret mission, Kellyn at Sinnoh and Keith in another region, it would take a long time till Kate could get some back up.

Back at Almia, both Elaine and Crawford had just reach the Union's base of operation. "*Pant*Next time, try to capture some Doduo," Crawford said between breaths as he was exhausted from all the running he and Elaine did.

"C'mon, we need to head inside," Elaine quickly entered the base, which Crawford groan from how Elaine still had energy to run up into the base. Cursing himself for not being to stay fit, he got up and headed inside.

Elaine was the first to arrive in the operation room, where the Operators work and to help the Rangers in their mission. She quickly went up to Chairperson Erma, who was monitoring the place. "Chairperson Erma, I have some urgent message," Elaine called out, which cause some of the Operators and off duty Rangers to look at her strangely.

Erma turned around to see what was so urgent and noticed that it was Elaince, the mechanic of the Vientown Ranger Base. "What sort of urgent message?" Erma asked, while in the background everyone went back to their work.

"It is ab-" before Elaine could start explaining, Crawford crashed through the door out of exhaustion. The whole room didn't check to see what it was this time, since they knew it would be Crawford who came crashing in.

"S-Sorry bout that," Crawford said, rubbing his forehead as he pushed himself up and off the ground.

"As I was saying, the urgent message is about the Unova region," Elaine began, which Erma raised an eyebrow about what she was saying.

"Go on."

"Team Dim Sun has return, and Ranger Kate has some news about it. It seems they're more quieter than the last time we faced them, and they are much more secretive too. I don't know whether are these the same Dim Sun grunts we have face before, or did they just become much more smarter," the news was so shocking, that the whole entire operating room had screeched to a halt. The only sound audible was the sound of the markers on the main screen in the room. Even the Rangers through the headset was stunned about the news.

"Is this some kind of a joke?" Erma asked.

"No, ma'am. This is really true, and Kate even took a picture of the grunt with her styler," Crawford took out her styler before showing it to Erma. She couldn't believe that Team Dim Sun had returned, and they had change.

"I want every Top Ranger on comm, now!" Erma ordered the Operators who were in charge. But something was up, as the Operators was having a hard time trying to connect to any of the Top Rangers available.

"Chairperson Erma, I can't get through Kellyn nor Keith!" a blonde girl called out. This goes the ssame for the other Operators as they tried different frequencies, hoping to call any of the Top Rangers, but fail as all they got was static.

"Try connecting to Kate," the blonde nodded, which she type something into her computer before they all hear the sound of the usual tone.

"*Click*This is Top Ranger Kate," they were relaxed as somehow, Kate manage to respond to the Union.

"Kate! Oh my Arceus, it is so good to hear from you," the blonde said, as she converted the talk from her monitor to the main screen in the room.

"Rhythmi? What's going on?" Kate asked, as the trace of worry was there.

"It seems that we lost contact to the other Top Rangers and we are only able to contact you," the blonde, who goes by Rhythmi, responded.

"That is impossible. Have you try contacting Kellyn?" Kate asked.

"I did, but all I get was static. That goes the same for the rest of the other Top Rangers, including Keith," this made Kate stopped running.

"Kate, this is Chairperson Erma. As of now, this is very dangerous mission, and until we can get in contact with the other rangers, I want you to stay out of danger if possible. I know that you have been training in hand to hand combat, but the Dim Sun grunts had become smarter at their movement," Erma commanded.

"Chairperson Erma, with all due respect, I am not backing down. It may seem I am going against your order, but I will stop Team Dim Sun one way or another. And Rhythmi, have you tried using the phone? Ranger Kate out," with that, the call was cut off by Kate's styler.

The whole room was now looking at Rhythmi, who was just dumbfounded about what had Kate asked her. "I sorta forgotten about that," the Operators and Rangers fell over at how Rhythmi could forget something like that. Taking out a cellphone from her pocket, she searched for Kellyn in the contact list, and found his name and number. Quickly, she called the number and plugged it into the speaker for everyone to hear. The sound of the tone dialling and ringing was heard throughout the room, as people was awaiting for any response.

Then the sound of a click signalling that the call was answered. "Hello?" a male voice was heard through it, and everyone was relieved that nothing bad had happened to him.

"Ranger Kellyn, can you hear me?" Chairperson Erma asked.

"Yes, and Rhythmi, this better be important as I am trying to calm down some of the Pokemons here. Whoa!" the sound of Pokemon pounding onto the ground could be heard.

"Sorry Kellyn, but this is sorta urgent. You see, Dim Sun has return and-" before Rhythmi could finish explaining, Kellyn was caught off guard.

"WHAT?!" this made everyone in the room winched at the sudden outburst.

"Anyway, we sent Kate to check it out, which is located in Unova. We were hoping you could find Keith and help her out," Rhythmi asked, after recovering from that sudden outbursts and hope that Kellyn won't be furious about it.

"I'll get there as soon as I finish my mission here. And tell me where is the last location Keith have been," Kellyn asked, as the sound of the Pokemon in the background had somehow calm down. Crawford was amaze at how Kellyn was able to calm the Pokemon while he's on the phone. He wasn't a Top Ranger for nothing.

"His last known location is Kanto, in Vientown Forest. Kellyn, why didn't you answer your styler when we tried to call you?" Rhythmi asked, knowing full well that every stylers would have a communicating device implanted into it.

"You did? I didn't hear anything, apart from the stampeding Rhyhorns over here," this made the Operators a little puzzled. Kellyn should be able to hear the Sytler's ringing, even in this circumstances.

"Well, alright then. Hope you get to Kate as soon as possible."

"Okay, Ranger Kellyn, out," the sound of the call getting cut was heard as the whole room turn to look at Erma. They were now awaiting for any new orders from the chairperson.

"What now, Chairperson Erma?" Elaine asked.

"I want every Operators to search for any Dim Sun grunts in the Unova region! They must be disbanded at all cost," with that, the whole room was back in operation as they began to scan for any grunts who had the emblem on their uniform. "Elaince, Crawford, thank you for informing me about this information. But your job isn't done yet, as I want you 2 to head over to Unova and get a temporary base to set up," Erma commanded.

"Yes ma'am!" with that, both of them exited the operating room and left the base for Unova.

Back in Unova, Kate was still thinking about the call she had recently. "Pachi, it seems that Chairperson Erma wanted us to stay away from Dim Sun till backup arrives. Do you want to stop them?" Kate asked her partner, who was perched on her right should.

The Pachirisu gave a nod, agreeing that they must stop the evil organisation at all cost, even if they were going against Erma's command. Kate just smile at how her partner could have such a similar answer to hers, knowing that she too would want to stop the Dim Sun members from returning. "I guess you don't want to wait for back up either," after what had happened earlier, she would need to stop them fast. With her regain energy, Kate ran down the route to the next city to catch up with the 2 teenage trainers.

While Kate was trying to catch up, both Brendan and May had finally arrived at the city with a Gym, the city of Striaton. It was located right beside a Pokemon Centre, and it was facing the route they came from. There were some small apartments located on both left and right side of the pathway to the Gym, while the streets was crowded with pedestrians. "C'mon, let's head to the Centre to heal our Pokemon," Brendan suggested, as he held onto May's wrist while trying to get through the crowded streets of the city. This made May blush a little, since she never expected Brendan to hold onto her wrist.

It wasn't long when they emerged at the other end of the crowd and was panting from how it was tiring from just trying to pass the crowded street. They were now standing right in front of the Gym, and was amaze at the architecture design. It look like a mansion, with a 3-storey building and 2 pillars in the front with 2 doors between them. They wondered how much money was spent into building a Gym like this. They then turn to head to the Centre to heal their Pokemon while waiting for Kate to arrive.

Once they entered the Centre, Nurse Joy greeted them and ask about their Pokemon well being. The 2 teenagers took out their respective Unova Pokemons from their pockets before handing them to Joy. "It will take a few minutes for them to heal. You may wander around the place to better understand the city," Joy suggested, which Brendan happily agreed to it.

"C'mon, let's read about the city's info," as he was about to take a flier when the doors to the Centre opened to review a very tired looking Ranger.

"I... should have... tried... capturing a Pokemon..." Kate was completely exhausted with her hair completely a mess and her uniform was just a wrinkled mess.

"Let me guess, crowd issue?" May asked while Kate went towards one of the seat available in the Centre. She slumped down onto the seat and tried to catch her breath while her partner curled up into a small fuzzy ball before doozing off to sleep.

"I did not expect that the city was having a fair today," Brendan said while reading the flier in his hands. "They are having a Flower festival today, and later tonight, the people will plant some flowers into the ground with their soulmate to have a happy life and good health," this somehow caught May's interest.

"Really? Can we go? Please?" May begged while holding onto Brendan's arm.

"Erm, sure, okay," this made May completely happy as she hugged him tightly, causing Brendan to blush madly. Kate just sat there, just enjoying what was happening around her. Brendan just gave her a glare, telling her to not speak of this. Kate just giggled at how red Brendan was at the very moment, knowing that these two would make a cute couple.

After the Pokemon were healed, both Brendan and May had reclaimed their poke balls and left the Centre. Kate was close behind, with her partner still fast asleep in her arms. It wasn't a long walk since the Gym was located right beside the Centre. "Well, May, this is officially your first Pokemon battle. I wish you luck in it," Brendan stated as the 3 teenagers entered the Gym.

Within the gym, they were amaze that the place was also served as a restaurant. There were tables and chairs on both side of the room, and 3 different symbols on the floor in the middle of the room, each with a different design; a green panel with a leaf symbol, a red panel with a fire symbol and a blue panel with a rain droplet symbol. "So, where's the Gym Leader?" May asked, completely not knowing what was the rule around the place.

"Well, it says here that we can only proceed if we answer the question correctly. There are 3 questions and 3 rooms respectively, and all of which have a similar answer. Grass, Fire and Water," Brendan explained, as he read out loud what was in the flier. "The question is that, we must step on the panel that has a type advantage of the symbol displayed on the curtain," the flier was right. On the first curtain, it was painted with red to signify that it's a fire type.

Kate went and step on the blue panel before a light buzz was heard. The curtain was rolled up and revealed another room. This time, the curtain was painted blue, signifying that it's water. It was May's turn to pick the right answer and stepped on the green panel before the same thing happened. In the last room, a green curtain was shown. Brendan put the flier back into his bag and stepped onto the red panel for the last curtain to roll up.

Brendan was shocked to see that the Gym Leader was non other than Cheren himself. "You! How in the world did you become a Gym Leader?!" Brendan asked out of surprise.

"I took the role since the past Gym Leaders left to train, after they were defeated by 2 trainers, whose names are Hilbert and Hilda," Cheren explained.

"Well, luckily for you, I won't need to challenge you cause I defeated you fair and square back at the professor's home."

"So, you're scared of challenging me to a battle?"

"Oh, heck no, I just don't want to embarrass you in front of the ladies," this made both May and Kate giggled at that comment.

This made Cheren a little pissed, since he was not only insulted in front of 2 girls, but Brendan was completely right about what he had said earlier. Even though he doesn't like to just give the badge without a battle, he just sighed and loosen up a bit. Searching through his pocket, he found the badge he was searching for in his trouser's pocket. "Ugh, fine, here's the badge," Cheren reluctantly gave Brendan the badge for his win the day before he started his quest.

"And now, May, it's your turn to battle him," this made May a little nervous. Although she had battle a lot of trainers while on her way to Striaton City, he had never battle with a Gym Leader before.

"C'mon May, you can do it," Kate reassured her, trying her best to help May calm down before her battle.

"Alright, here I go," with that, she made sure to use her Unova Pokemon, including her starter. She won't be using her Pokemon from Hoenn, since it would be a little unfair to use them at all. Cheren smirk, knowing that the girl wouldn't have the skill to battle a Gym Leader like him and would easily win the match against her.

"Alright, this will be a one-on-one battle. You may switch between 2 Pokemons on hand. Ready?" a judge stood at the sidelines of the battlefield, while both Brendan and Kate stood behind May to watch her battle with Cheren. Both May and Cheren nodded that they were both ready for the battle.

"Fight!" after the call, both of them toss out their respective Poke Balls, with Cheren calling out a Patrat while May called out a Glameow.

"Glameow, lower its defenses by using leer!" May instructed as her Pokemon frightens the Patrat Pokemon, thus lowering its defenses.

"Patrat, Detect your opponent's next move!" Patrat nodded, as it kept a close eye on Glameow's next attack.

"Glameow, use growl to loser his attack," the said Pokemon purred cutely, causing Patrat's to not hurt Glameow too much.

"You know, this is getting boring. I think I should strike first. Patrat, use Bite and try to prevent her from moving!" Cheren was determine to not lose his first match against May.

"Glameow, dodge the attack and use Scratch!" the Pokemon just barely dodge Patrat's attack before swiping its back with its claw. The Patrat cried out in pain from the sudden attack, before trying to Tackle Glameow down.

"Glameow, dodge it and use Quick Attack," May was now getting better at understanding the way of Pokemon battle. She could command her Pokemon like she was an expert, even though she enters Contest all of the time. It might be in her blood since her father's a Gym Leader back in Hoenn. Glameow's attack cause the Patrat to hit a wall from the impact, before it fainted right as it landed onto the ground.

"Patrat, no!" Cheren exclaimed, surprise that May was able to defeat his Pokemon without getting touch at all. He recalled the fainted Pokemon before taking out another Poke ball. Brendan was too surprise at how May battle. Though her father was a Gym Leader, so it might explain the reason why she battled like she knew what she was doing. Kate on the other hand just enjoyed the battle, as it might keep her entertained at how intense the battle was between a trainer and a Gym Leader. She might give it a shot one day since it look interesting to battle with Pokemon that one had been caught.

May recalled her Glameow back into its Poke ball before getting her 2nd Pokemon for the next battle. "I won't be defeated by a rookie trainer like ya! C'mon, Lillipup!" he tossed out another poke ball and a puppy Pokemon emerged from it.

"I think this calls for Oshawott to finish up some stuff here," May tossed out her poke ball, and the said Pokemon emerged from it.

"Lilli, hit him with everything you got!" the said Pokemon nodded before trying a Tackle on Oshawott.

"Oswott, dodge his attack and use water gun to blow him back!" May instructed. Her starter just barely dodge the attack by Lillipup before using its Water Gun. Since the pup was too close, the attack did a great deal of damage to it.

"Lilli, don't give in!" Cheren tried to encourage his Pokemon, but it was proved useless as May's Oshawott used Tackle to finish it off. This made the pup to faint at that spot, causing made Cheren to fall to his knees in shock.

"No way... did I just battle like my dad?" May ask, completely surprised on how she battled with Cheren. She was unaware on how she battled, but she knew what she was doing.

"Wow, May, you are just amazing!" Brendan exclaimed before giving May a hug. Kate just smile at the outcome of the battle, expecting that May would win the battle. She knew Cheren was overconfident about his skill in the battle, and thus losing in the end since he didn't expect that May was this good.

"T-Thanks, Brendan," May stuttered before they broke the hug. They look into each other's eyes before blushing madly. They stood like that for a few minutes, not knowing what to do. Cheren then stood up before coughing to caught the attention of the 2 trainers and the ranger. Both of the trainers blushed madly at what they did earlier.

"Anyway, here's your first badge for defeating me," Cheren said, a little sad that he was beaten yet again.

"Cheer up, you did your best," Kate reassured.

"Yeah, thanks," Cheren replied, still a little sad but happy that he gave it all his best.

"Now, let's head back to the Centre and get ready for tonight," with that, both of the trainers left the Gym, leaving Kate and Cheren in the battlefield.

"Hey, Cheren is it?" Kate wanted to talk to him about an important subject. Cheren nodded in respond, which Kate continued her question. "I know that you are a Gym Leader, but can I ask a favour from you?" this caught Cheren's interest as Kate began to explain about Unova's upcoming danger.

"Hmm, alright, I guess I can do that," Cheren replied.

"Great, thanks for the help," Kate then left the gym, hoping to catch up to the 2 trainers.

"So, other Rangers are on their way here..." Cheren just look up into the ceiling, thinking about what might happen one day.

In an unknown location, a dark figure was sitting on a chair while looking out the window. It was a rather stormy weather with rain hitting the window and lightning visible in the distance. A knock on the door was later heard, though the figure didn't move at all. "Come in," was all it said.

"Ma'am, it seems we may have a problem," a grunt said as he held 3 folders in his right arm.

"Explain," the figure, who was revealed to be a woman, was unfaze at what was happening at the moment.

"Well, there seems to be a ranger who is getting in our search of a stone," this caught the figure attention as she turns around to face the grunt.

"Who is this ranger we're speaking of?" she asked, with venom in her voice.

"T-Top Ranger Kate, a girl from the Almia region," the grunt stuttered as the lightning in the background made it even more uncomfortable in the office. The figure was scary as she was right now. He placed a folder containing Kate's information on the desk which the figure began to study about her.

"Hmm, interesting. A Vatonnage Styler and hand-to-hand combat," she scanned through the pages, reading each article in amazing speed.

"And she has 2 trainers at her side," the grunt then handed her the 2 remaining folder.

"May, the daughter of Norman, Gym Leader of Petalburg City. She isn't much of a trouble since she enters Contest," she spoke without care before she started reading the 3rd folder. This time, she was utterly concern and slam her fist on the desk.

"He is the main threat to me, as well as the Top Ranger! I want the search team to look for the stone to be quicken!" the grunt saluted before quickly leaving the office to avoid the wrath of his leader.

"Brendan Birch, the son of Prof. Birch, and the Champion of Hoenn and the conqueror of Battle Frontier. You will be a thorn to my side, as well as that Ranger," she said with venom in her voice. She was not expecting a Champion to be visiting Unova. She then spun back to facing the window, with lightning was struck outside. It revealed a part of her body, which had a small "R" implanted just below her collar of the shirt. "I, Sird, former Admin of Rocket, will not be tolerated by this insignificant," a loud thunder was heard later, as she await for the stone she was seeking.

DB : Well, I somehow ended up making this chapter long as well.

Kate : No kidding

Brendan : Hmm, Champion of Hoenn and Conqueror of the Battle Frontier, I liek it!

May : Just don't bug me about it.

DB : The 6th chapter would be out in a week or 2... *shrugs*

Brendan : R & R Please!