IMN: Hello people and welcome to my latest chapter! I am SO SORRY about the late update! School is evil!
Rhythmi: Hey IMN, why is there a Shinx, a Houndour and a Totodile here on set? *Points to said Pokémon*
IMN: Oh! Those are some of my baby Pokémon. The Shinx is Sparky-Larkey, the Houndour is Darkie-Boomie and the Totodile is Jetsy-Jawsy. Keith wanted some play-mates for MK the Lugia so I got the Fang Gang to play with her.
Kate: It's really sweet that Keith would think of MK's needs. He would make a good father.
Keith: *Blushes at Kate's comment* T-Thanks Kate. By the way why are those three called the 'Fang Gang'.
IMN: They're really strong for their age and all three of them know a fang move.
Keith: They don't look that strong to me...
IMN: Never judge a book by its cover! *Turns to audience* Okay people, I just want to say that I don't own Pokémon or it's characters. If I did I would-
Keith: AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH! *Runs around with the Fang Gang biting both his arms and his head* GET THEM OFF ME! GET THEM OFF ME!
IMN: *Glares at Keith* TEN SECONDS! I TURN MY BACK FOR TEN SECONDS AND YOU ALREADY MADE MY POKÉMON ANGRY! *Turns to the audience* Hope you enjoy this chapter. ON WITH THE STORY! *Runs to Keith* SPARKY-LARKY, STOP USING 'THUNDER FANG' ATTACK ON KEITH OR NO TUMMY RUBS FOR A WEEK!
Chapter 24:Earthquake at the Cliffs!
Kate's Pov
"Aahhhhh... Go away sun. Five more minutes..." I inwardly groaned and snuggled more into my pillow to block out the light. When I breathed in through my nose I noticed a really familiar scent. I immediately opened my eyes to see Keith's sleeping face centimetres away from my face, AGAIN! Why does this keep happening?!
I suddenly realised that I was sleeping on Keith's shoulder, in a tree and I am cuddling his arm! I felt the heat rise to my face and my Mewman ears and tail pops up. Stupid habit! I couldn't move since Keith's arm is around my shoulders and we are sitting on a branch so one wrong move and we both would fall off. Well Keith would fall off and I would just float.
Then Keith mumbled something that sounds like 'ate', probably dreaming of food or something. I couldn't help but giggle at how cute his sleeping face looked. To be honest I want it to stay like this but I knew it wouldn't last forever because of-
"KAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTEEEEEEE! WHERE ARE YOOOOOOOOOUUUU?! KAAAAAAAAATTTTEEEEE!" yelled Fro in a panic as she rapidly floats around like a lunatic. Jet, Rhythmi, Barlow and Wendy ran up the escalator and tried to calm Fro down.
"KATE IS MISSING! WHAT IF SHE'S KIDNAPPED OR WORSE?! WE GOT TO FIND HER! THIS IS AN EMERGENCY! CODE RED! CODE RED! MAYDAY! MAYDAY! S.O.S! S.O- AAAAHHH!" Fro rambled as she floated around under the tree and tripped over Keith's cup from last night.
"Mmmm... What's going on? Can a guy just get some sleep around here?" groaned Keith as he was waking up. The others stopped what they were doing and stared at us. Wendy and Rhythmi were smirking at us and had a glint in their eyes. Oh boy...
"Well, well, well. Our two lovebirds seem to be comfortable in the Ranger Union Tree. Don't you think, Wendy?" Rhythmi stated while her smirk grew bigger.
"Why yes, Rhyth. They seem to be awfully close for two best friends. Perhaps there's something more?" stated Wendy while she held the exact same smirk as Rhythmi. Both girls linked arms and took a deep breath.
"Kate and Keithie sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love, second comes marriage-" Wendy and Rhythmi sang.
"WILL YOU TWO CAN IT?! IT'S NOT LIKE THAT! GET BACK HERE!" shouted Keith as he climbed down the tree and chased after the two girls with a red colour on his cheeks. I just jumped off the branch, did a flip and did a perfect landing.
"Alright everyone, calm down. Guys? ... HEY!" Barlow said and everyone turned their attention to the Vientown Ranger Base Leader.
"Now that we found our two lovebirds, let's head on home. Rhythmi, Kate and Keith, you guys get changed and meet me at the entrance. Got it?" Barlow announced. We nodded our heads and headed down to the bed rooms we stayed in last night... except for the fact I was sleeping in a tree.
I quickly went into the bathroom in the room Rhythmi and I were staying with my uniform in hand. I made sure I locked the door before anyone could see me. I lifted my shirt to see that the black veins around my Birthmark are spreading. Right now my whole left hip is covered by black lines. 'Oh ho ho! Judging by how fast those lines are spread, it won't be long before the 'Day of Darkness' arrives. Not long now before the show begins," taunted the voice in my head.
"Laugh all you want, I will stop it from happening. There's nothing you or anyone else can do to change that," I mentally said in my head to the voice. I could hear it laughing in my head as I continue to get changed.
'Really now? If that was the case then why don't you tell your friends about the prophecy and your destiny?' questioned the voice. I froze for a moment.
'I knew it. You have regrets, don't you? You have regrets so strong that they might surpass the thought of completing your destiny. Your friends are a small part of the regret in your heart but there's one person who stands out the most. That red-head boy, Keith wasn't-'
"YOU LEAVE KEITH OUT OF THIS!" I growled in my mind. When I looked into the mirror in front of me, I saw my eyes glow black. Damn it!
'Ah ah ah! Temper, temper... You don't want to show what you really are to your friends so soon now, do you? That would ruin the finale on the Day of Darkness. It seems that I hit a soft spot with that Keith boy. Oohhh, it would be so amusing to see the look on your face as you helplessly watch him suffer at the hands of darkness," gloated the voice. Damn it. This is what the voice wants; to get me worked up. Calm down Kate, don't let him get to you.
"Kate are you ready yet? Barlow is waiting for us," Rhythmi called from the other side of the door. Luckily the black in my eyes is gone and I'm fully changed. I took a deep breath in and smiled like there is absolutely nothing wrong as I exited the bathroom.
"I'm ready. Let's get going!" I exclaimed trying to be positive. Rhythmi and I took the escalator to the first floor. Keith was saying 'bye' to his cousin Wendy and Barlow was waiting with the other Pokémon. We all set off to walk back to Vientown. Suddenly I had this killer headache as we head for the stairs on the Union Road.
"Hey, you feeling okay Kate? You look a little pale," Keith asked as he placed a hand on my shoulder.
"Don't worry Keith. I'm fi-" I replied before the ground started to give a violent shake.
RUUMMMMMBBBBBBLLLLLLLEEEEE!
The shaking continued for a second or two before it stopped.
"Huh? What was that? An earthquake?" asked Barlow.
"That's odd. The chances of an earthquake happening should be low in Almia," commented Rhythmi.
"Some trainer is probably using a Pokémon that can use an 'Earthqauake' attack in a training session or battle. Let's go," Barlow said as we continued walking down the Union Road. We were just in front of a cabin before another earthquake happened.
RRRRUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMBBBBBBBBBBLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEE!
"WAAAAHH!" screamed Fro and Guts the Makuhita as they fell on Jet from their loss of balance. When the earthquake stopped Jet was struggling to get both Pokémon off of him. The poor Buizel was turning blue from the lack of oxygen.
"That tremor was bigger than the one earlier, isn't it?" Barlow said as he lifts his Makuhita off of Fro and Jet. Fro got up and helped the poor water Pokémon up. Jet was using Fro to steady himself from the lack of oxygen in his system. That was when a woman came rushing out of the cabin with a worried look on her face.
"Is everyone okay?" asked the woman frantically. We all nodded 'yes' and the woman sighed in relief.
"Thank goodness. Those tremors are really bad. I hope those two rock-climbers and their Pokémon at the Peril Cliffs are alright," the woman said while looking at the cliffs that are behind her cabin.
"Rock-climbers?" Keith repeated while petting Jet on the head.
"You see, a short while ago two people came with some big Pokémon and equipment. The man said that he and his niece are going to do some climbing in order to find some rock that can be found in the cliffs. They were both wearing two strange outfits and the Pokémon looked quite strong. Soon after they left the tremors started. I hope they're alright," the woman explained.
"Hey guys, I just did a scan of the surrounding area. According to my laptop the source of the earthquakes are at the Peril Cliffs. Also these aren't natural earthquakes, some Pokémon are causing them," Rhythmi announced as she was typing something onto her laptop.
"Wait, can you describe what these two look like?" Keith asked with a serious look on his face.
"Oh! Uuuummmmmm, the man was dressed in all black with a strange purple symbol on the chest. The girl was also dressed in black but differently. She had her hood up and had this silver cross around her neck," the woman explained.
"We get the picture. We'll go investigate. Thank you for informing us ma'am. We'll make sure these 'rock-climbers' are safe. That will be our mission, to look for the source of the tremors and find those rock-climbers! You take care now," Barlow informed the woman before we all walked towards the Peril Cliffs, with the woman thanking us. The closer we got to the cliffs the louder the awful sound and the more my head hurt.
"A Team Dim Sun member AND a Hunter? Does anyone else think that this is suspicious?" Rhythmi asked as soon as the woman was out of ear-shot.
"That is true. We don't know why they're working together or what they're planning but we're going to find out. By the way hope you guys have some rock-climbing experience," Barlow replied. Keith, Rhythmi and I were confused before we saw the cliffs.
They. Were. HUGE! The height of the cliffs could rival a skyscraper! The cliffs had countless ledges. They were reddish brown and had several vines stretched across. I could easily just float up with my powers. Suddenly my headache became worse and I couldn't take it anymore. I was holding my ears in pain. Make it stop!
"Kate!" Keith yelled as he put his hand in my pocket and took out the Sound Cancelers. He put them behind my ears and activated them. Now the sound was gone and my headache was slowly going away. Thank Arceus.
"Thanks Keith. I'm fine now," I said as I smiled at Keith. He blushed and turned his head away. Was it something I said?
"Hmmmm... If Kate acted that way, that must mean there's a Gigaremo unit around here. We better hurry," Rhythmi explained and we started climbing the cliffs. We climbed up to a ledge that is high enough to view Almia. Ahhhhhhh, this would be a perfect thinking spot for me. Too bad I'm on a mission so I can't fully enjoy the view now.
"Okay, there's got to be a way to cross this gap to the next ledge round here- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Rhythmi said before she started flying in the air. She landed on her butt then she reached the other side and held on to her laptop for dear life.
"Rhythmi, you okay?" I yelled. Rhythmi was shaking in fear. I guess that's a normal reaction to being flown several feet across a cliff. I looked down and saw a giant leaf on the ground. Wait, isn't that-
"Springy Grass! Who would've known? I loved these when I was a kid. I spent hours bouncing on them. This thing is perfect for jumping long distances," Barlow said as he picked up Guts, took a couple of steps back and charged at the grass. He jumped on it and he flew above the gap and onto the other side. I never thought I see the day when Barlow said "YAAHOOOOOOO!" and acts like a kid. You see kids; you learn something new everyday.
Keith, Jet and I jumped on the leaf and flew across as well while Fro floats across (she is a Ghost type after all). I got to admit that it was really fun. Then there was another tremor again but this time stronger. We ran to the edge and looked down. It was the heart of the cliffs and there was a large hole in the cliff face.
There was two Rampardos who looked like they're in a trance smashing the wall with their heads. Each time one of the Rampardos hit the wall, the ground shook violently. So that's what causing the tremors. On the far left of the Rampardos were two people and a Tyranitar. One was a guy in a Dim Sun outfit with a weird laptop and another was a girl around our age wearing the uniform of a Hunter. That is definitely Noir down there.
"This explains the earthquakes but why is a Hunter and Dim Sun grunt working together?" Keith questioned and frowned at the scene as well as myself. How would any one want to harm Pokemon for their own selfish needs?! Those jerks have no right to harm any living creature!
"We can't get down to them from here. We'll have to climb up and over to the other side if we want to stop them," Barlow explained as he started to climb the vines on the wall next to us. Soon all of us started to climb up the vines.
We reached a huge cliff face that was covered in vines so we had our work cut out for us. We were half way across the gap then my horrible headache returned with a vengeance. I didn't understand until I saw an image flashing in my mind.
I saw the cliff face that looked like the spot the Hunter and Dim Sun grunt are except there's no hole in the wall. It was night so I couldn't see much.
I felt a smile slowly appear on my face as a warm hand held my left hand. I turned to the man beside me but his face was covered by the darkness of the night.
"I never seen the cliffs up close before. It's amazing," I whispered as I tighten my grip on the man's hand. I felt the guy next to me kiss the crown of my head before whispering in my ear, "You haven't seen anything yet". The man placed his hand on the cliff face and then-
"KATE, LOOK OUT!" Fro shouted as a Gligar flew at me. I jumped over to a nearby ledge and captured the Gligar with my styler. I then made my way over to the other side of the cliff, where the others were before releasing the pokémon.
"Kate, why did you space out like that? It's dangerous and that Gligar could have hurt you or worse!" lectured Keith with an scary look on his face.
"It's nothing. I'm fine. Let's go, we have to stop those guys from causing those tremors," I answered as I walked ahead of the group. I felt Keith grab my wrist when I heard Rhythmi gasp. I saw ahead of me two yellow Gigaremo units with all of the Pokémon in this area in a trance. They must have set them up so the pokémon would keep prying eyes away from the Rampardos.
"We can sort this out later, Keith. We need to destroy those Gigaremo units," I said as I jerked my hand away from Keith's grip and we ran to destroy the machines. Turns out that the yellow units needs a Crush 2 Field move. Luckily Guts and Fro has the Field move we need to destroy them (and no hairstyle had to sacrifice itself to save us like Crawford's afro back in Marine Cave).
"Okay, what genius thought of creating a Gigaremo out of plastic? Not the smartest decision for a design idea. No wonder it was so easy to destroy them," Barlow commented. We made our way over to the place the Dim Sun/Hunter duo were. There were vines going down to the site from our ledge. We climbed down and hid behind the cliff face. I saw that Keith was trying to say something to me before the bad guys started to talk.
"Stupid Rampardos! Work faster! We don't have all day!" shouted the Dim Sun grunt as he typed in something on his weird laptop. The two Rampardos grew more aggressive and sped up the progress of smashing the wall with their hard heads.
"Calm down, blockhead! We're already causing earthquakes with those Rampardos, we don't want to make the situation worse by destroying the whole cliff. Plus we don't want to break our new toy and get in trouble with the boss," said the Hunter who definitely sounded like a girl our age. It really is Noir but why is she with a Dim Sun grunt?
"Then why don't you use your Tyranitar?! He can break this cliff easy! The dumb thing is just standing there!" complained the grunt. Noir sighed as the Tyranitar growled at the grunt.
"Now look, you made him mad. I only brought him as a back-up plan in case your Miniremo breaks. If we use this guy now with you pissing him off, then we'll destroy the whole cliff!" Noir replied as she petted the Tyranitar's side, calming it down a bit. Miniremo? Is that what the weird laptop is called?
"Why are we here anyway? What's so special about this dumb cliff face?" questioned the grunt. Noir sighed again and face palmed herself.
"We've been over this. You're in no position to know what is behind that wall. All you need to know is that it's important for the plan. Now stop yapping your gums and continue working," ordered Noir as the grunt grumbled something like 'lazy girl' as he punched in the order on his machine.
We all looked at each other before we nodded and walked out in the open.
"Excuse me but what are you two doing?" Barlow questioned, faking innocence. Noir and the grunt turned towards us and the Rampardos stopped what they were doing. Jet instantly started growling at the sight of the Dim Sun grunt.
"O-Oh! H-Hello there! You have some nice costumes guys. You look exactly like Rangers... Wait! YOU ARE RANGERS!" the grunt nervously said and started to sweat bullets. From the corner of my eye I saw Noir and her Tyranitar face-palming themselves.
"Why are you using those Rampardos to ram that wall?" asked Keith, playing along with Barlow's plan of faking innocences.
"Uuuuuuuhhhhhh... My niece and I are geologists! We're merely conducting a soil analysis. That's what this computer is for. Now we really must get back to work," the grunt replied. Is he seriously passing off as a geologist? At least wear a disguise or something...
"Please tell me that you rookies aren't believing in this guy's crap..." Barlow asked us through telepathy.
"Nope, not one bit," Rhythmi, Keith and I responded via telepathy.
"Okay then Mr. Geologist. What exactly is the soil composition around these parts? Just out of curiosity," Barlow asked, playing it cool. The grunt looked shocked and started scratching his head.
"Riiiiiiiight, the soil composition. Uhhhh, let's see... There's red clay, ummmmm some calcium and a whole lot of dirt. There's also some water and uuuuuhhhhhh a dash of salt... " The grunt stammered before he groaned in frustration.
"ACK! Forget this! I'm a Team Dim Sun member and I'm not going to tell you anything! Go Rampardos! Crush those Rangers!" The grunt ordered as he typed in an order on his weird computer. Suddenly the two Rampardos charged at us!
Luckily we all got out of the way in time. Keith and I both started to capture the Rampardos while Barlow made sure that Rhythmi was protected from the two controlled pokémon. It was really tough trying to capture them. Fro helped with my capture by freezing one of the Rampardos for a few seconds while Keith got Jet's help with capturing the other Rampardos. Keith was at an advantage because Jet has the type advantage with his water type moves. Meanwhile I was having difficulties with my captures. Fro and I may be able to freeze the Rampardos but since we're ice types, rock type moves would give us serious injuries because ice is weak to rock types. It was really hard to dodge all it's headbutts, tackles, rock throws especially with the rock slides the Rampardos was creating. My styler took some damage but eventually the friendship gauge went up and I did a sucessful capture.
"CAPTURE COMPLETE!" Keith and I exclaimed at the same time as the two Rampardos ran away now they weren't controlled by the grunt anymore.
"AW MAN! My boss is going to kill me!" wailed the Dim Sun grunt as his Miniremo exploded.
"Alright grunt, I have some questions for you whether you like it or not. How did you control the Rampardos without a Gigaremo? Why are you here? Why are the Hunters and Team Dim Sun working together?" Barlow questioned as he held the grunt by his shirt. The grunt was struggling to get out of our leader's grip but failed horribly.
"I-I-I-I-I..." stuttered the grunt as he sweated nervously. Looks like we won't get anything out of him...
Suddenly Noir jumped out of nowhere and slashed Barlow's right arm with her Shock Dagger! It was a little cut but he got shocked by the dagger. Barlow was in such pain he let go of the Dim Sun grunt and held his cut in pain with his left. Noir dashed over to the grunt and pulled him away from us.
"Back off! One step towards us or any funny business and my Tyranitar will make it rain!" Noir threatened as she pointed one Shock Dagger to us and pointed to her Tyranitar, who was positioned to charge at the cliff. Damn it! If that Tyranitar charges at the cliff it would cause a rock slide!
"Why are you doing this? Why are the Hunters and Team Dim Sun working together? What are you planning?!" demanded Keith glaring at Noir as Rhythmi held him back so he won't do anything stupid.
"Heh. That's for us to know and you to find out, Ranger Boy," Noir taunted before she looked my way.
"Won't be long before the grand event now, Icecia. Your destiny is right around the corner," Noir taunted. Wait, how did she-
Before any of us could react Noir threw down a small grey ball and everything was covered in grey smoke. The smoke disappeared but so did Noir and the Dim Sun grunt.
"They got away. We have to tell the Union about what happened. It's a mission clear on solving the earthquake mystery, guys. Let's head home," Barlow said as he held his arm. Everyone was walking towards the exit of the Peril Cliffs but I stared at the spot where the Rampardos were digging up. Why were the bad guys so focused on this spot? Why did it feel so familiar?
Before I could touch the wall, Keith patted my shoulder. I was so shocked by the sudden action that my Mew ears and tail popped out. Stupid habit!
"Kate, you seem off today. Is everything alright? What was Noir talking about?" Keith whispered so the others couldn't hear us. I stared into his brown eyes and saw the green shining because the sunlight hit them at the right angle. I wanted to tell him how I feel about the whole Hunter/Dim Sun teamwork and my destiny but something stopped me. My head wants me to tell him but my heart told me it's not time yet. I don't know if it's my need of protecting the others or something else but I looked away from Keith.
"It's nothing. Noir was just trying to get into my head. It's fine, let's get back to the others," I replied. I know it didn't sound convincing but I wanted to get away from the cliffs as soon as possible. I jogged up to Rhythmi, Barlow and the Partner Pokémon. I heard the voice taunting me again but I blocked him out. All I want is to get away from the cliffs and not to see the hurt look on Keith's face.
"I'm sorry, Keith..." I whispered to myself as we all left the Peril Cliffs and head back to Vientown.
IMN: PULL! *Her and the cast trying to pull Sparkey-Larkey off Keith*
Keith: OW! OW! OW! HE'S JUST BITING HARDER! GET HIM OFF!
MK: Luuuuuuu. *Goes over to the Shinx and tickles his tummy*
Sparkey-Larkey: *Let's go of Keith and starts to laugh* SHI HIHIHIHIHIHIHIHI!
Keith: Thank Arceus! MK, you're the best daughter EVER! *Hugs MK*
IMN: Now that's over and done with... *Turns to audience* HEY EVERYONE! I hope you enjoy this chapter! I'm sorry that it took so long; school is really tough this year. I'll update as soon as a can so please be patient and I'll see you in the next chapter. BYE! *Waves like a child*
The Fang Gang: *Waves as well*