Later that day, Keiichiro met with Tsukasa and Umika at an outdoor shopping plaza only a few miles from Kasai Rinkai Park. When they met, they took cover behind the corner of a storefront that Keiichiro led them to. They got into place and Tsukasa gave an inquiring look, "Okay... so what's the plan? What are we hiding for?"

The Red Patranger pointed to a café across the street with a large outdoor patio, "We have to get the jump on Kasumi so we don't want her to spot us. If everything works out as planned, then she should be waiting there."

"For what?" Umika asked.

"For her next date... or what she thinks will be her next victim," Keiichiro replied with a sly wink.

"You're baiting the kidnapper?" Tsukasa asked in disbelief, "You set up a fake date yourself?"

Keiichiro scratched his chin, "Actually, that was Hilltop's plan. Once we found out that the Gangler uses this café to set up her appointments, we thought it might be fun if Jim used a fake profile to draw our target out."

Umika gave a low laugh to herself, "All right... not bad. There's only one other problem. What about our friends? She's surely going to keep them nearby as her bodyguards."

Keiichiro nodded and reached into a small briefcase that he had carried over. Inside it were two canisters which looked like large pepper spray shooters. "That's where you and Tsukasa come in. Once I confront Kasumi, she'll no doubt send the other three on me. It's up to you two to get the jump on them and spray them with this."

Tsukasa inspected the device while Keiichiro continued, "Since we didn't have a lot of time, the lab could only synthesize a little bit of the counter-toxins. For now, this is all we have so we have to make our shots count."

"Okay, but this still sounds really dangerous," Tsukasa protested to her partner, "What if you get hit by her spray?"

Keiichiro grimaced, "It's a chance we'll have to take. The important thing is to get the others free first."

Umika nodded, "I hate to admit it, but I think he's right. We're going to have to trust each other on this one."

Tsukasa wrinkled her features before giving a tense nod and taking her canister, "All right then. Let's do this."

She and Umika transformed and split up to get into covering positions while Keiichiro took a deep breath and marched forward toward the café patio. As he neared, he could see many people sitting outside enjoying their drinks or socializing, oblivious to the monstrous Gangler sitting among them. Vapora was wearing her human disguise as Kasumi Tanaka and she sat texting on her phone until she heard her name being called.

Other café patrons looked up in surprise as Keiichiro stood nearby holding out his badge and calling in a loud voice, "Kasumi Tanaka? On the authority of the Global Police, you're under arrest for multiple counts of aggravated battery and kidnapping."

The other café patrons got up and cleared out in fear at the sight of the approaching police officer who was now directly walking toward the girl on the patio. She gave an imperious sniff and went back to texting on her phone, "I'm afraid you've got the wrong girl, Officer. I'm just here waiting on a date."

"For a Mr. Jim Carter?" Keiichiro smiled, "I'm afraid he stood you up and sent me instead. He's not a big fan of two bit Ganglers and neither am I... or should I call you Vapora Fume?"

Kasumi stopped and put her phone down with a scowl. She eyed the empty area and rose to her feet, "You just made a big mistake Patranger. I already took one of your friends and I'll add you to my collection too."

She dropped her disguise and began to gesture forward, "Get him my lovelies."

From the roof of the café, Sakuya, Kairi, and Tooma all leapt forward and jumped in the way to shield their mistress from the lone officer. As they charged forward, Vapora laughed, "You were foolish to come alone."

"Who said I was alone?" Keiichiro replied as he transformed himself and met the onslaught of the brainwashed rangers.

The Red Patranger raised his guard and fought defensively to block and deflect the attacks of his three assailants before he positioned them right near an intersection of some nearby buildings. Once they were in position, Tsukasa and Umika leapt off the buildings' low rooftops from two different sides and surprised the brainwashed rangers. Tsukasa tackled Sakuya and put him in a half nelson choke hold before spraying his face with the canister. Nearby, Umika had done the same thing to Tooma and the Blue Lupinranger stopped and toppled to the ground face-first.

Meanwhile, Keiichiro and Kairi had locked into a grapple and exchanged a few blows between each other before Vapora fired her blaster weapons to throw both Reds back to the ground. Keiichiro rolled clear in a stunned heap and found the Gangler going after him while Kairi lay nearby still recovering his senses. Umika hurried over to help her fellow Lupinranger and brought forward the last of her spray in the canister, "Hang on Kairi. Just stay still and I'll help you."

The moment she began to spray, Kairi sprung up on reflex and kicked the spray can away. He growled and squared off against his new opponent throwing punches and kicks seemingly unaware that he was trying to harm his own comrade. Umika fell back dodging and blocking Kairi's strikes with a defensive stance as she didn't want to hurt her own friend, "Don't do this! Please! I'm your friend remember?"

From where she stood, Tsukasa turned to see Keiichiro trying to recover to his feet with the Gangler looming over him. Not too far away, the brainwashed Lupin Red had reached out and grabbed Lupin Yellow by the throat and was trying to choke her. Tsukasa stood torn for a moment before she hurled her remaining canister toward her allied Lupin Ranger, "Hey Yellow! Heads up!"

Umika gasped and caught the spray can as it sailed by and sprayed Kairi right in the face to neutralize the perfume that was controlling him. Kairi staggered for a moment and fell over in a daze allowing Umika a chance to rise and give a grateful thumbs up to the Pink Patranger.

Meanwhile, Vapora loomed over Keiichiro and grabbed him by the neck to try and haul him up, "And now you're next!"

"Sorry lady, you're not my type," Keiichiro quipped as he twisted the wrist of the Gangler and then pulled a takedown reversal move that had been taught to all officers in the police academy. He dropped Vapora to the pavement facefirst and tried to twist her arm behind her back in a submission hold, "This is your last chance to come quietly Gangler."

The monster grunted before using her own brute strength to roll over and surprise her foe.

"You just made a big mistake Red! Now you're mine!" Vapora cackled as she sprayed Keiichiro point blank with her enchanted perfume nozzles. A cloud of gas enveloped the Patranger and he sputtered in momentary confusion while choking through the spray. Again, the smell was sweet, pleasant, and floral but Keiichiro did not feel any different or less oriented. He focused his mind as a precaution but found that his thinking hadn't become dulled or clouded either.

Both Tsukasa and Umika stopped and stared in horror wondering if their last male comrade had been turned against them. Vapora laughed again as Keiichiro stared at her in confusion while she rose to her feet, "Now Red... I want you to be a darling and destroy your enemies for me."

"My pleasure," he replied as he suddenly turned his blaster pistol on the Gangler and opened fire with a barrage of laser shots at point blank range. Vapora howled in fury and pain as she recoiled from the attack and staggered backwards. One of the shots had hit her directly in the glass scent bottle that she kept her other victims in and it exploded into shards of glass. A score of young men in suits toppled to the ground having now been freed from their extradimensional prison.

Before Keiichiro could take any further action, both Tsukasa and Umika leapt forward and sent the female Gangler sailing back again with a dual flying kick to the face. The two girls regrouped around him and pulled their blaster pistols in ready positions while their enemy slowly staggered back to her feet. The Pink Patranger took a breath, "Goodstriker's not here right now and our other teammates are still down."

"Then we'll just have to do this the old fashioned way," Umika replied as she leveled her gun,

"This Gangler's made of glass so let's find her breaking point."

"Full power!" Keiichiro agreed as he and the two girls let loose a withering barrage of laser fire at their already weakened target. One by one, the shots hit the Gangler and began to chip away more and more glass from her body before she gave one more anguished howl and tumbled to the ground, only to explode in a great cloud of smoke and fire.

Once the blast subsided, a dented scorched safe clattered to the ground with an audible thud. Now that the Gangler had been destroyed, all her victims fainted as the spell over them had been broken. Amid the smoke and dying flames along the ground, Keiichiro and Tsukasa hurried over to make sure the civilian victims were all safe first. Several men were already stirring and regaining consciousness, looking around in dazed confusion as if having awoken from some fevered dream. As the two Patrangers made the rounds, they came over to where Sakuya was just sitting up and rubbing his head. While his face was still obscured by his visor, they were sure Sakuya was looking just as disoriented and confused.

"Sakuya! Are you okay?" Tsukasa said bending down to offer him a hand. She helped her younger teammate up and patted him on the head while he gave a relieved sigh.

"Senpai? What's going on? How did I get here?"

"That's a long story. We'll tell you later," Keiichiro said giving a satisfied nod, "We're just glad you're back."

Before the Patrangers could take another minute for their reunion, Tsukasa pointed over to where Umika was cracking open the Gangler safe with her dial device. "Hey! Over there!"

Umika broke open the safe and pulled out the Lupin Collection perfume bottle that had been stowed away just as the Patrangers whirled around on her. Keiichiro gave a low growl and began to reach for his blaster pistol, "Hold it Lupin! Our truce may be ending soon, but we're not going to let you take that bottle!"

Umika smiled as she turned to see her two fellow Lupinrangers recovering to their feet nearby. They looked groggy and tired and she was sure it was best if they fell back and regrouped. She turned to the Patrangers and shrugged, "Don't worry. I wasn't going to take this. We all got what we wanted so let's share the spoils. The bottle for our freedom today."

Keiichiro gritted his teeth weighing the options in his head but was surprised when Tsukasa stepped forward and gave a nod, "All right Yellow. You have a deal."

Umika nodded and tossed the bottle to the Pink Patranger before throwing a few flashbangs to the ground. A momentary smoke screen filled the area and when it dissipated, the three Lupinrangers were gone from sight.

"Damn it! They got away!" Sakuya protested in disappointment as he began to recover his senses.

Tsukasa shook her head and held their recovered trophy, "That's okay. She was right. We made a fair trade and got our friends back safely. Let's just leave it at that."

Sakuya felt Keiichiro clap him on the shoulder before walking toward the recovering victims, "Come on everyone. Let's make sure the civilians are all right. We've got enough to worry about here already."

Early the next evening, Keiichiro stopped in to the hospital where Sakuya was undergoing one last inspection by some of the doctors who were friendly toward the local police. At the request of Commander Hilltop, they wanted to make sure that Sakuya was healthy and that the effects of the Gangler's perfume were no longer affecting his senses. The young rookie sat at the edge of the bed while one of the doctors stood off at a table examining some blood work that had just been returned from the lab. When Keiichio entered the room, Sakuya greeted him with a cheerful smile, "Hey Senpai! This is a surprise! I didn't expect you'd be coming by tonight."

"Well why wouldn't I?" the Red Patranger said as he walked over, "You're still my teammate and I was concerned."

Sakuya chuckled and quipped, "And here I was thinking you couldn't stand me. I guess you're just a big softy after all."

"Oh you still put me and Tsukasa through a lot of trouble," Keiichiro pointed out with a wry smile, "And I still plan to give you hell for all this... just not tonight. How are you feeling?"

"A lot better," Sakuya admitted while rubbing the back of his neck, "I feel a lot more clear headed now so I guess that's something, huh?"

Keiichiro gave his comrade an affectionate clap on the shoulder before the doctor looked up from his charts, "Well Officer Hikawa, it looks like your labwork checks out. You seem to be perfectly fine. If you take it easy for a few days and don't feel any different, you'll be cleared for duty again in no time."

"Great! Thanks doc!" Sakuya said as he hopped off the bed, "I can't wait to get back into the saddle. Uh... you and Tsukasa don't mind riding without me for a couple more days, do you Senpai?"

Keiichiro gently shook his head, "Don't worry. I think we can manage. I wouldn't mind the extra peace and quiet anyway."

Sakuya rolled his eyes at the veteran's gentle ribbing as they left the doctor's office, "Very funny Senpai. Do you want to go out and celebrate tonight? Since we're downtown, I thought maybe we can just find a local dive bar and have a beer or something?"

Keiichiro gave a slightly apologetic look and shook his head, "Sorry Sakuya. I'd like to, but maybe we can do that tomorrow? There's somewhere else I have to go tonight."

The Green Patranger tilted his head in curiosity, "Really? You almost always stay late at the station or just go home after work."

"True... but this is something personal."

"What errand can be that important? Unless you're going out on a date tonight too?" the rookie speculated.

"Sakuya! Knock it off with the wild theories already. I taught you better than that," Keiichiro frowned.

"Okay. Okay. I'll catch up with you tomorrow night Senpai!" Sakuya replied as he relented with his hands raised, "You can give me all the juicy details about this new chick then."

Keiichiro could only shake his head in silent exasperation watching the younger Patranger walk off down the block laughing all the while as he hailed a taxi cab.

A little while later, Tsukasa sat on the couch of her apartment. She was dressed in some comfortable sweats from her police academy days and she sat idly watching an old black and white romance movie that was on television. It was already starting to get late and she was feeling hungry but didn't have the motivation to get up and cook anything either. After all the mayhem she had been through recently, she just wanted to take it easy and rest for a while. Admittedly, she couldn't help but feel a little conflicted. Part of her knew that she should try to get out and enjoy the next few days off, but she needed those days to rest and recover before getting back to the daily grind of work. It was a vicious cycle and she wondered if she could find anything remotely interesting enough to look forward to before the next Gangler attack.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a sudden knock at the door. She got up and headed over to the door to curiously peek through the peephole. To her surprise, she saw it was Keiichiro waiting on the other side dressed to down to his own civilian clothes. She opened the door and raised a puzzled eyebrow, "Keiichiro? What are you doing here?"

"Sorry for just dropping in unannounced," he said sheepishly while entering the apartment and handing her a box of fresh pizza that he was carrying, "I was passing through after checking up on Sakuya and thought you might want something to eat."

"What? I... thank you," she sputtered, "But why? I don't understand."

Keiichiro shrugged, "It's been a crazy weekend for all of us. I thought we should all relax and treat ourselves a little. Even if we missed out on our weekend, we still stopped that Gangler and recovered that treasure piece. Hopefully you haven't eaten already?"

Tsukasa looked inside the pizza box and smiled, "No... and teriyaki chicken? You know me all too well. Join me?"

They headed to the living room and sat down on the couch with the pizza and the movie going on in the background. Keiichiro took a piece and handed it to her, "It's not the stuff from our French bistro, but I thought it would do."

"It's perfect. Thank you," she said taking a bite and enjoying the food. After a short silence from their eating, Tsukasa looked to the movie on television, "You know... I have to admit you were right about before. You really can be romantic when you want to be."

The Red Patranger nearly choked on his pizza but paused to maintain his stoic outward appearance, "What? What makes you say that?"

Tsukasa studied his face the same way that she scrutinized suspects in interrogations before shrugging, "Just testing a theory."

"Oh? And what theory is that?"

Tsukasa went back to eating while watching the movie on the screen during a romantic scene, "This movie just got me to thinking about that Gangler's powers just now. I was trying to figure out why that monster's perfume didn't work on you."

Keiichiro straightened up in a dignified way, "Lupin Yellow told us before. It's because I have superior focus and willpower."

"You're sure it isn't because you're already in love with someone else?" Tsukasa asked with a sly look of amusement.

"We don't know that was even a legitimate defense against the perfume," Keiichiro insisted with mild indignation, "And besides, assuming I was already in love with some girl, what would that matter to you?"

"Because she might get jealous right now," Tsukasa pointed out as she took another slice of pizza, "Here we are on my couch with a late night pizza and a sappy romance movie on television. One could get the wrong idea, just like our crepe incident?"

Keiichiro matched her level gaze and took another slice of pizza, "Hmm... and what if I just wanted to hang out and do something nice for my friend... to cheer her up a little?"

Tsukasa smiled before leaning over and kissing him on the cheek, "Then I'd say... thank you for being such a good friend Keiichiro."

As he blinked in surprise, she settled in next to him on the couch and rested her head on his shoulder. She took another bite of pizza and went back to watching the movie curled up close at his side, "For what it's worth... if this had been a second date, I would have thought it was a really great one."

He smiled quietly and put a comforting arm around her shoulders while they continued to watch the film and enjoy each other's company for the remainder of the evening, "Yeah... I think so too."

A/N:
To those who have made it this far, thanks again for reading! As popular as the Lupinrangers seem to be with people, I figured that the Pats needed a little love and attention too. Hopefully you enjoyed this short story because I had fun writing it!