Keichiiro and Tsukasa dove under a nearby table and took cover as a fierce battle erupted between the Gangler Vapora and the Lupinrangers. The Lupinrangers tumbled aside and scattered as Sakuya fired several shots from his blaster weapon before using it to transform himself. Amid the chaos, the girl named Umika who wore the mantle of Lupin Yellow hesitated when she saw Sakuya attack. When the Lupinrangers arrived, she had been surprised and uneasy at having witnessed Sakuya sitting at a table flirting with their target. Her attention was immediately drawn back as Kairi, her comrade in red, quickly pulled her to her feet, "Come on Umika! Now's not the time to space out!"

The female Gangler continued to cackle and engage the Lupinrangers, all while directing Sakuya's every attack. Tsukasa could only stare in disbelief from where she took cover, "What the heck is going on here?"

"We'll figure that out later," Keiichiro said as he rose and pulled her with him, "We've got to get in there!"

While the other combatants were distracted, the two Patrangers pulled their VS Changers and swiftly powered up into their own battle suits. The Lupinrangers didn't pay any mind and fended off their other foes with their Lupin swords, only to gasp in surprise when Vapora was struck from the flank by a volley of blaster fire. The Red and Pink Patrangers made flying leaps forward and kicked the Gangler aside in unison as they joined the battle. The force of their combined attack sent the monster sprawling back several yards before turning to their mind-controlled comrade in green.

Sakuya began to train his weapon on the Lupinrangers but Keiichiro and Tsukasa rushed forward, doing their best to grapple their younger friend and restrain him without hurting him. Amid the scuffle, Keiichiro put Sakuya in a headlock while Tsukasa tried to wrestle the blaster pistol free as several shots went wide. She grunted, "Come on Sakuya! Snap out of it!"

"Let me go!" the Green Patranger snarled, "I have to prove my love for Kasumi!"

"Oh good grief!" Keiichiro huffed in exasperation as he continued to struggle against his comrade.

Kairi scratched his head in confusion, surprised and relieved that the Patrangers weren't all trying to go after the Lupinrangers for once. He called out, "We have to stop meeting like this. It seems we're on the same side again today."

"Yeah, I'm not too thrilled about it either," Keiichiro snarked back before Sakuya surprised him and tossed him over his shoulder with an arm throw. As the Red Patranger hit the pavement and rolled away, Sakuya used his moment of freedom to throw a hard elbow into the side of Tsukasa's head and knock her away too.

Before he could do any more damage, Sakuya was thrown back from a few blaster shots by the red and blue Lupinrangers. As Umika hurried to help both Patrangers back up to their feet, Tooma, the thief in blue gave a shrug, "I guess one good turn deserves another."

By now, Vapora had recovered and gave an angry shriek while brandishing two perfume nozzles affixed to her arms, "You're not going to get my treasure Lupinrangers! But I'm willing to share something else with you today."

Jets of powerful enchanted perfume fired from the nozzles and engulfed the two male Lupinrangers in a cloud of vapor. Kairi and Tooma recoiled from natural reflex before realizing the cloud of gas wasn't harming them. Rather, it smelled sweet, floral, and pleasant to the senses. The two male Lupinrangers stood looking at each other in confusion while the magic perfume took effect and gripped their minds. Just like Sakuya, they were now much more open to the power of suggestion from the monstrous Gangler.

Nearby, Umika and Tsukasa clamped their hands over their masked mouths and noses recoiling in disgust.

"Eww! What a horrible stench!" Umika moaned in dismay while Keiichiro stayed back and caught a whiff from the periphery of the cloud. He still didn't know what the girls were talking about. He braced himself seeing Vapora now pointing toward the remaining enemies, "All right boys, now I want you to take care of these last three."

Sakuya, Kairi, and Tooma all turned and faced their former comrades preparing to carry out their orders and attack. Fortunately, the unusual split between the two mixed teams and the reluctance to turn on their original allies caused the three enchanted rangers to hesitate. Keiichiro decided to seize the initiative and immediately fired a shot from his weapon which struck a glancing blow off the Gangler. Vapora Fume screeched in anger and waved her arm toward her three mind-slaves. "I think you three need some more obedience training! We'll finish this later!"

The monster fired several energy bolts from her arm nozzles throwing Keiichiro, Tsukasa, and Umika back before she released another perfume-like smokescreen. Once the miasma cleared, the Gangler and her three new servants had all disappeared and made their escape. Keiichiro growled and pounded his fist in frustration before Tsukasa tapped his shoulder and pointed to the rooftop of the outdoor cafe they had defended. In the confusion, it seemed Lupin Yellow had also made her escape and was now vaulting over the top of the roof to make her getaway.

"Hey come back here!" Keiichiro shouted as he tried to charge after the lone thief. The Pink Patranger grabbed her friend's arm and restrained him, "Calm down Keiichiro. Let her go."

"Let her go?" he sputtered indignantly, "We already let that Gangler get away with Sakuya and now we're just going to let that thief skate too?"

Tsukasa powered down and shook her head, "She's not going to be a threat to us. Both of her partners were just captured by that monster. That means we have a slight advantage."

Keiichiro powered down and took a deep breath to calm himself, "Okay... you're right Tsukasa. We're not going to do Sakuya any good if we chase our tails. Let's head back to HQ and talk to Commander Hilltop. Maybe he and Jim Carter can help us figure something out."

Tsukasa gave her comrade an approving nod, "All right. That sounds like a plan to me. Lead on."

Later that night, the two GSPO officers made their way back to their downtown HQ looking a bit exhausted and worse for wear. As they entered the main office, they were surprised to see their superior Commander Hilltop sitting behind his desk doing some work. The older dark skinned man raised a curious eyebrow when he saw the two Patrangers and set his work down, "Detectives? Is everything okay? What are you doing here?"

"We've got a bit of a situation, sir..." Keiichiro grimaced, "Umm, what are you still doing here?"

"Working a double shift tonight," Hilltop answered as he sat back in his seat, "Crime doesn't sleep so neither can we right now. Where is Sakuya?"

"About that..." Tsukasa answered, "We were hoping we could talk to you about that. We kinda need your help."

Commander Hilltop sat and listened as the two Patrangers recounted the events of the evening and described the monster that had attacked. After hearing their report, Hilltop folded his hands thoughtfully, "Hmm, that doesn't sound like any Gangler I'm familiar with. I think we should have our assistant Jim Carter run that through our database for more information."

Tsukasa nodded, "Do you think this Gangler has anything to do with the disappearances of some of those people around Kasai Rinkai as well?"

"It's possible," Hilltop shrugged, "While we're at it, we should pull up information about the people who went missing and cross reference the data. Hopefully we can find a pattern and link it to this Gangler."

"If that's the case and she's going under a false alias, it might help us track her down to find out where she's keeping the other victims," Keiichiro agreed.

"Of course, there's another problem too," Tsukasa pointed out, "That weird perfume spray she was using... it seemed to mind control Sakuya and some of those other Lupinrangers. We need to find out what it is and how we're going to counter it."

"If we can recover any samples, we'll have Jim do a scan of that too," Keiichiro said seriously, "First thing's first though. We're going to have a long night so let's grab some coffee and get ready to work."

Tsukasa gave a mild groan of dismay while Commander Hilltop rose from his chair, "All right. I'll get Jim in here and make sure we clear out the detective dorm room if anyone is staying the night. Let's get to it."

Several hours later, the two Patrangers retired to one of the station's precinct dorm rooms reserved for detectives who were working late on more involved cases. It wasn't a large room, nor was it particularly well furnished. Some of the other detectives had often joked that the place looked more like a prison cell with a small dresser and nightstand in the corner along with two cot beds. Although they had made quite a bit of progress in their data gathering, it was getting late and the Patrangers were exhausted from the events of the day. They would start sorting out their findings and investigating locations in the morning. For now, it seemed like sleeping would have to come first.

Upon walking in the dormitory room, Keiichiro checked his wristwatch and saw that it was now two in the morning while Tsukasa eyed the spartan living arrangements. She checked the blanket and poked at the firm mattress with a yawn, "Well... I guess it'll have to do. If I had known I'd be crashing here, I would have brought along a stuffed animal to brighten the place up."

"Well, we've still got that stuffed shark from that other Gangler case in the evidence locker," Keiichiro teased with a mild laugh.

His teammate stuck her tongue out before sitting down on her cot. There was a long pause before Keiichiro gestured for the doorway, "Oh... if it makes you feel any better, I can just take a blanket and find some other lounge to sleep in tonight."

Tsukasa lay down on her cot and pulled up a warm blanket over her while shaking her head, "No. I couldn't let you do that. I mean... this arrangement is a little weird but if you're okay with staying, then so am I."

Keiichiro nodded quietly and tucked himself into his own cot before turning out the light. After a short period of companionable silence, Keiichiro was starting to drift off to sleep when he heard his teammate's voice, "Keiichiro? Are you still awake?"

"Unfortunately," he sighed, "You're worried about something, aren't you?"

"Well... yes."

"Don't worry Tsukasa. I'm concerned about Sakuya too, but I promise we'll get him back," he said with a resolute tone. At least he hoped he sounded convincing.

Tsukasa nodded and chewed her lip in the dark, "I know... but I was also thinking about something else. There was something I wanted to ask you about from back at the cafe in the park?"

"What about it?"

Tsukasa shifted slightly, "I was thinking about the whole thing with sharing that crepe and the fork again. I know it's a little silly and I might be overthinking things here... but I was wondering if that meant anything, you know?"

"Oh..." Keiichiro stared at the dark ceiling in confusion before it started coming together about what she was getting at, about how his actions had resembled some of the intimate things that romantic couples actually did. Now that he really thought about it, he could see how that could have been misconstrued. He thought it over carefully before answering.

"You shouldn't have to worry Tsukasa. We've been friends and coworkers for a long time now... even since we went to the police academy, right? What I did at the cafe, I did without thinking because I trust you and I'm comfortable around you."

Tsukasa smiled quietly to her herself, "Thanks... I'm glad you think so. If I'm being honest, that's kinda the same reason I asked you to come along on a fake friend-date tonight too. I guess as first dates go, it turned out pretty awful, huh?"

"It wasn't all that bad," Keiichiro replied honestly, "For what it's worth, I still had a good time before that Gangler showed up."

"Yeah... me too," she said turning over to look toward him across the room, "At the very least, I guess we looked convincing, huh?"

Keiichiro looked back toward his friend before awkwardly settling in and pulling his covers over him, "Okay... we should turn in. We've got a lot to do tomorrow and we'll need our rest. Good night."

Tsukasa lay back on her pillow and closed her eyes with a relieved sigh, "Good night... and Keiichiro? Thanks again."

Early the next morning, Umika Hayami walked to the front door of the French restaurant Bistro Jurer and turned the sign from Open to Closed. She grimaced and began to wring her hands as she flopped down at an empty table. After spending a nearly sleepless night, she was now left to manage the whole restaurant all by herself and there was no way it was going to be able to operate when its chef and other waitstaff had been abducted by a Gangler. Although she was deeply concerned about her two friends Kairi and Tooma, she was equally worried that closing the restaurant would no doubt cause a lot of regular customers to be upset.

Umika continued to sit in the empty restaurant rubbing her hands over her temples, trying desperately to figure out a plan to save her fellow Lupinrangers. As she clawed for ideas, a risky gambit suddenly came to mind. It seemed Sakuya had also been brainwashed and the Patrangers were no doubt worried about trying to get him back too. They probably had a lot more resources at their disposal to investigate and track down the Gangler. Right now, the idea of forming a temporary truce with the two remaining detectives seemed more and more appealing. If only she knew exactly what she was up against or had something to offer the Patrangers.

At that moment, the door opened with a jingle and Umika turned with a sigh, "I'm sorry. The restaurant is closed and..."

She paused in surprise when she saw the familiar face of the elderly butler Kogure, servant to the family of the legendary thief Arsene Lupin. The smartly dressed man gave a kind smile and ambled over, carrying his large book while adjusting his glasses. Umika rose from the table, "Mr. Kogure! Thank goodness you're here! Something terrible has happened!"

The butler idly glanced around the empty room and nodded sagely, "So it would seem. Where are your friends?"

"That's a long story," she winced as she sat down again with him, "Mr. Kogure... I'm going to need your help. You seem to know a lot about the Lupin Collection. If I'm going to have any chance to helping to rescue the other Lupinrangers, I'm going to need to know exactly who and what I'm up against."

Kogure regarded her calmly before giving a quiet nod, "If you can get me a cup of coffee and a croissant, I'll tell you anything you want to know."