The webby site is going great! For anyone else who is thinking about joining, do it! It's awesome! And if it's confusing getting to it, just look at Crime Scene Fairy's (who's reviewed my story many times :) ) profile and she has the link to it there. So yeah, enough for that stuff. Back to the fanfic!
Now it's time to actually figure a few things out. This mostly a information chapter, so not too much humor, but I tried to fit it in where I could :) Enjoy!
Kate
For the moment, I wasn't focusing on Isaac. I had already heard what he had to say and none of it was good. I was worried about Keith. He still wasn't back and judging from Chairperson Erma's silence, I was guessing it wasn't good. When it came to bad news about Keith, I wasn't the first person everyone came running to tell. I usually got angry at whoever told me. Honestly, sometimes even Erma didn't get a free pass.
He just always seemed to get in the worst situation. I never wanted to go through that "exchange Keith for Yellow Gem" type thing again. If he managed to get himself kidnapped… Let's just say that he'd never hear the end of it. I mean, as soon as I rescued his butt and got it right back here in the Ranger Union where it belonged. He should be here.
"I've been doing some research for Altru, but most of it was concerning new energy sources, which isn't what I want to talk about now," Isaac's voice disrupted my thoughts and I realized I'd better pay attention. He looked nervous enough and he didn't need people's attentions to be straying. "This is about a side project I did besides my research. It was my own project. I was always interested in what happened to the Darkrai that was tied to the Dark Crystal. I took some of the Dark Crystal shards that Team Dim Sun left behind and studied them. I cross-referenced that information and looked up everything anyone's ever found about Darkrai."
The room was silent. Isaac continued explaining. "The results that I came up with were not good. From what I gathered, it was very probable that the Darkrai that guarded the Dark Crystal has been severely affected by it."
Danielle raised her hand tentatively, looking freaked out. "Uh, what do you mean by severely affected?"
"I mean that it has settings similar to the Dark Crystal depending on its mood. When it's angry enough, it radiates the same energy the Dark Crystal did."
"So that's what happened in Summerland," Solana stated and Isaac nodded. I couldn't help but grin. The first thing Solana had done when she had arrived at the Ranger Union was to thank me over and over again. Apparently that Vatonage styler had come in handy.
"Anyway, unfortunately, I did this research along with my lab assistant, Meagan," Isaac continued and I could feel the tinge of sorrow in his voice, "I trusted her when I shouldn't have and she alerted what we believe to be a remainder of Team Dim Sun. A few nights ago, they stole my research, along with everything Meagan and I had found out about this Darkrai."
"So are we worried they might go after it?" Barlow, the Vientown leader, asked in a deep voice.
"They already have," Isaac answered, "Meagan and I determined that likeliest place the Darkrai could've been hiding was in the Sekra Mountains. Its location had to be fairly isolated, seeing as we haven't seen it in almost five years. We even determined, to the foot, where it was, based on energy readings we took. Sven and Keith were sent to try and head them off, but when they got there the Darkrai had already done its damage. Team Dim Sun was unable to capture it and it fled to the Jungle Relic, which is where it then got aggravated by the fighting Tyranitar and pulsed with that dark energy, causing the chaos that went in Summerland."
"Is there any way we can find it again before Team Dim Sun does?" Elita asked calmly. She seemed to be taking this well. But then again, she always was pretty calm.
"I can take more energy readings to determine its location," Isaac replied, "but I'm sure Meagan is doing the same. I doubt we'll have much of a head start."
"What were to happen if the Darkrai was captured by Team Dim Sun?" Cameron asked, looking to be more of the freaked out ones, "Worst case scenario."
"They can use it like Blake tried to use the Shadow Crystal," Isaac answered, "As long as they have the right facilities."
"Facilities?" Joel questioned, "Have we found out where this facility could be?"
"I would think he would mention it if we had," Lucy rolled her eyes. Let me just say that I loved Lucy. We had really got to know each other as fellow Top Rangers and she was one of the funniest people I had ever met in my life. Especially when she and Joel got at it.
"Okay, Lucy, look," Joel started to argue back, but then caught Sven's eye and shut his mouth, "Uh, yeah, um, just keep going, Isaac."
"Is it really believable that Team Dim Sun could capture this Darkrai? I mean, Solana and I just barely missed getting destroyed by it," Spenser asked from next to Joel, managing to do it quite nicely without looking at Solana. Everyone in the Ranger Union had heard about their fight by now. Word travels fast here.
"It would be more than they could take," Isaac replied, "but I wouldn't put it past them. Meagan is very smart. She could find out a way to get it done. But as long as they're chasing after it, there's the danger of it becoming angry and causing the Pokemon around it to be affected. I'm sure no one but Team Dim Sun would want another repeat of Summerland."
"Arceus, no," Cameron emphasized, earning a few laughs in the otherwise serious meeting.
"Did Keith and Sven see anything when they went to stop Team Dim Sun from reaching the Darkrai?" Michael, the leader of Haruba Village, asked. He seemed to be taking this all in stride. He was a good guy and a dependable leader for the relatively new base of Haruba Village.
Isaac looked toward Sven, who shook his head. "When Keith and I got there, the place was deserted. We found a few footprints and evidence that people had been there recently. It was obvious that Dim Sun had gotten there before us."
"Where is Keith?" The words came out of my mouth before I could stop them, and I didn't mean to be accusing, but I stared at Sven all the same.
Sven at least had the courtesy to look ashamed. "Listen, Kate, he was fine the last time I talked to him. He's on a mission, but he'll be back soon. I promise."
I wanted to know more, but I shut my mouth, allowing the rest of the meeting to go on. I wasn't going to hold everything up on a psychotic search for my boyfriend if Sven was promising me he was okay. But when I got my hands on him…
"So what's the plan?" Jack Walker asked with a raised eyebrow. This is where Chairperson Erma stepped in.
"I want the Area Leaders to head back to their regions and make sure they put on double the patrols," she announced, eyes raking the crowd thoroughly, "Be on the lookout for suspicious activity and let me know the second anything happens. Top Rangers will be expected to be put right to work investigating this thing. Jackie, that means you will be staying for a while." Erma directed this comment toward the Union's most wayward Top Ranger.
He grinned roguishly. "You got it, boss."
"Any other questions?" Erma asked to the crowd. There was nothing, not even from the jokesters of the group. It had been a serious meeting with not much room for joking. We were basically in a power struggle with Team Dim Sun over a psychotic Darkrai. Not something a lot of people found funny.
Chairperson Erma must have taken the silence to be a no because she disbanded the meeting several moments after that. The area leaders filed out of the room, but the Top Rangers stayed. Now they would get their assignments.
"Lucy and Kate, I want you two to work in the field chasing after Team Dim Sun. We will be in constant contact with you, giving you coordinates as to where the Darkrai is so that hopefully you can stop them before they get to it."
"Sven and Wendy, you guys will work on finding this 'facility' the Dim Sun needs in order to keep the Darkrai," Erma continued, "I want you to work with Isaac on this because he knows what you need to be looking for."
Sven and Wendy nodded and it looked like the only one yet to get an assignment was Jackie. He looked expectantly at the Chairperson and Erma grinned. "I've got a special mission for you, Jack Walker."
Jackie looked like he didn't know if he should appear happy or scared. "Uh, okay," he finally answered, looking apprehensive.
"The rest of you get right to work," Erma nodded and I followed Lucy, Sven, and Wendy out of the room. I glanced back for a second to see Erma and Jackie quietly exchanging words, clearly in cahoots about something. I rolled my eyes. Why did there always have to be secrets about everything?
Spenser
Outside, Joel and I were saying our goodbyes to everyone. I purposefully avoided Solana and she purposefully avoided me and Joel rolled his eyes at the both of us. "You're both grown-ups, why can't you just get over this and move on? I mean, Lucy and I argue 24/7, but at least we don't hold grudges."
"I'm not holding a grudge," I answered, waving a goodbye to Elita, "If she doesn't want to talk to me, I don't want to talk to her. That's all there is to it."
"C'mon, Spense, you're not going to see each other for a while. Do you really want to leave mad at each other?"
"Lemme think about it," I said, feigning thought, "Yup."
I did that to him all the time. And he hated it. "Bye, you idiot with a brain the size of a walnut," he said as he left, going off to capture a Staraptor to get a ride back to Fall City. This was the first time in a long time I had seen him leaving a Ranger Union meeting with Lucy right next to him. I guess she was sticking around the Union to get a few things done. Oh, Joel really would miss her dearly. At least, he would miss her more than he thought.
It was time to get back to Ringtown before anything crazy happened there. With Lunick and I being the only functioning Rangers, it was difficult to get any sleep. And now we had to send out double the patrols? I needed to get a bigger coffee-maker. Maybe the caffeine would keep me focused.
Before leaving, I looked back at the group of Rangers saying goodbye and caught Solana's eye. We both immediately looked away, but for second I wondered if this whole fight was really the stupidest thing we had ever done. But I just shrugged and turned to leave. Little did I know that a few hours from then I was wishing more than anything that I had made up with her. When you weren't sure if you'd ever see a person again, former arguments seemed pretty petty.