(Third Person POV)

"She's getting away again!"

"Grab her! Someone grab her!"

Rena slipped out of her handcuffs again and made a break for the infirmary's door. She jerked at the doorknob, then groaned when she realized it was locked. The two cops quickly caught up to her and slapped the handcuffs around her wrists for the seventh time, then dragged her back over to the chair.

Janice told the authorities that they could use the infirmary as their interrogation room, since the staff mostly just used it as a break room anyways.

"Stop trying to get away!" The lead cop scolded her, plopping Rena back down in a chair at the table. "You're only making this worse for yourself."

Rena just grumbled incoherent things to herself, sulking further into her chair.

"Now, I'm going to ask you this again..." The second cop exhaled sharply, leaning on the table closer to Rena. "Where. Are. The. Stylers."

"For the love of Arceus! How many times to I have to tell you?!" Rena lost her temper, slamming her handcuffed fists into the table, shaking it violently. "I. AM. INNOCENT! I have no idea what you're talking about!"

The lead cop just scoffed. "Yeah, likely story." He rolled his eyes, then narrowed his gaze at Rena. "Look, girl. We've got motive, means, and opportunity. The DA might give you a break if you just confess right now and tell us where all of those missing Stylers are, but I can't make any promises."

A vein bulged from Rena's forehead. "I already told you. You've got the wrong person! I'm being set up---!"

KNOCK KNOCK!

Suddenly, a person on the outside of the infirmary's door began pounding on it.

The second cop just sighed. "I'll get this..." He trudged over to the door and unlocked it, then opened it. He was surprised to see none other than Mr. Kincaid standing there. "What do you want?"

Mr. Kincaid held his head high, radiating confidence. "I would like to speak with my student. In private."

"Fine..." The second cop turned to face his superior. "Come on, Chief. Let's take a break for a little while."

"I could use a cup of coffee, anyways..." The Pueltown Police Chief shrugged his shoulders, then followed his subordinate out the door.

The second that the two cops left the room, Mr. Kincaid stepped inside, accompanied by Rena's Mightyena.

As soon as Rena locked eyes with Mightyena, her mood was immediately lifted, and her eyes lit up with delighted surprise. "Mightyena!"

Mightyena barked happily and pounced Rena, knocking her over in her chair. She giggled uncontrollably as he licked her face over and over again with worry.

Mr. Kincaid grimaced at their friendship, then closed the door behind him. "Alright, alright. Let's get down to business." He walked over and sat in the chair opposite of Rena, folding his arms across the table.

Mightyena helped sit Rena's chair back up, and she immediately turned to Mr. Kincaid with determination glowing in her blue eyes. "Mr. Kincaid, I'm innocent! You have to believe me---"

"You think I don't already know that?" Mr. Kincaid bitterly cut her off mid-sentence. He just sighed, letting his exhaustion show. "Of course you're innocent, undoubtedly so."

Rena just sat there blinking repeatedly, completely confused. "...wait what?"

Mr. Kincaid just rolled his eyes. "Honestly Raux, the boss described you as much smarter and sharper than that."

Rena froze, completely unsure how to respond. "Hold up...you are working for the boss?"

Mr. Kincaid was a little disappointed that she didn't already figure it out. "Of course I am!" He huffed, throwing his arms up into the air. "I was only placed here in this wretched school for this mission in the first place. How do you think the boss arranged for you to be put in the same class as Keith?"

Rena's jaw fell open as she began putting the pieces together. "Are you kidding me? The boss had someone on the inside this whole time and he didn't even tell me?!" She grunted in frustration, then locked eyes with Mr. Kincaid again. "So...we're on the same side?"

"Yes." Mr. Kincaid rested his head in his hand. "We are."

Rena took a minute to take it all in. "Oh, well... I still hate you, though."

Mr. Kincaid nodded his head, unamused. "Likewise."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "So since you're just a fake teacher, does that mean you can give me special treatment and just not give me detention slips anymore?"

"No. Nice try."

"Aww... Fine. Well, I guess it was worth a shot." Rena smirked slightly at that, shaking her head. Then, she shook off her lighthearted mood and got right back down to business. "Alright, here's the problem. Kim's setting me up, the cops don't believe my testimony at all, and my cell phone is up in my room so I can't call Ice."

"Don't worry about that." Mr. Kincaid waved her off. "I've got a plan. Honestly, all you have to do is sit here and stall." He stood up from his chair and began to walk away. "Think you can manage that?"

Rena just made silly faces at him while his back was turned to her. "Yeah I think I can manage that..." She mocked him with her disrespectful, playful voice.

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Meanwhile, in the hallway outside of the infirmary...

"Keith, what should we do...?" Rhythimi worriedly glanced at the infirmary door, then back at her spiky red-haired friend. "We have to clear her name somehow!"

Isaac was furiously typing on his laptop, sitting up against the wall next to Rhythimi. "I'm currently researching several strategies to clear her name as we speak..."

Keith was sitting halfway up the stairs, resting his elbow on his knee and his head in his hand. He was completely silent, deep in thought. He had the most serious poker face on Rhythimi had ever seen him make.

Isaac began pitching ideas. "We could try to lift fingerprints from the safe where the Stylers are usually stored...?"

"No, that won't work..." Rhythimi turned down his idea, lightly patting his arm as she looked straight ahead at Keith. "We don't have the forensics equipment for that. And besides, I think Keith is trying to think of something right now. Just look at his face."

Rhythimi redirected Isaac's attention to Keith sitting up on the stairs, and both blondes observed how deep in thought Keith was at present.

Ker-Chunk

All three teens jumped from surprise at the sound of the infirmary door opening, and they were quickly disappointed to see that it was just Mr. Kincaid exiting the room. Instead of scolding them for taking up space in the hallways like they all expected Mr. Kincaid to do, he instead stood in front of Rhythimi and Isaac, looking at the three of them.

"You all want to prove Miss Deveraux's innocence, correct?" Mr. Kincaid inquired, crossing his arms and looking directly at Keith.

"Of course!" Rhythimi shot straight up, and Isaac stood up right next to her. "Rena's done nothing but help us all out, and now we want to return the favor."

"Mr. Kincaid..." Isaac, Mr. Kincaid's prized student, approached his teacher. "We have reason to believe that Rena is being set up and framed for the theft by Kim."

Mr. Kincaid nodded. "Yes, I'm aware. I came to the same conclusion."

Keith just raised an eyebrow at how out of character Mr. Kincaid was being at present.

"Well?" Rhythimi piped up, a little impatient. "What should we do?"

Mr. Kincaid sighed. "The only thing I think you can do is find solid evidence pinning Kim to the crime, and then turn it in to Principal Lamont once he gets back from the Ranger Union in half an hour."

"Why Principal Lamont?" Isaac asked, a little confused. "Shouldn't we just turn over the hypothetical evidence to the authorities?"

Mr. Kincaid shook his head. "I would advise against that." He looked over at the two cops across the hall enjoying their cups of coffee. "Those two buffoons are just itching to arrest Miss Deveraux, and they're refusing to listen to reason. Do some digging around and find something to clear her name." Mr. Kincaid turned to look right at Keith once again. "And I suggest you get moving quick. If you can convince Lamont that Miss Deveraux is innocent, then he can take care of the rest."

Keith suddenly got an idea, leaping up from the stairs. "That's it! I know exactly what to do!" Keith looked over at Mr. Kincaid. "Uh, permission to break a few rules...?"

Mr. Kincaid turned his head the other way. "What are you talking about? I didn't see you do anything." He stuffed his hands into his pockets, then began striding away from the three students.

Keith smirked at Mr. Kincaid's uncharacteristic compliance. "Alright! Time we get started, then."

________________________________

"Listen up, everyone!" Keith stood up on the coffee table upstairs in the Commons Area, commanding the attention over everyone in the room.

Not even five minutes after Mr. Kincaid gave Keith the idea, Keith single-handedly rounded up between fifty and sixty Ranger School students from various classes to help prove Rena's innocence. Of course, he only selected students that weren't loyal to Kim.

"Our objective is simple: find the missing Stylers." Keith placed his balled up fists on his hips. "I've divided you all up into teams of search parties, and if we all look together to comb through the whole school, we should find them in no time!"

"YEAH!" The crowd cheered enthusiastically, punching their fists into the air.

"Alright!" Keith looked down at his Buizel, who was standing next to his feet. "Buizel, take five students with you into the basement. You're in charge of that group."

"Bui bui!" Buizel saluted his partner, then leapt off of the coffee table. He ushered five students standing towards the back of the crowd to follow him downstairs into the basement.

"Rhythimi." Keith looked over at his oldest friend. "Take Ponte and a few others to search both the guys and girls dorms."

Rhythimi nodded her head, taking orders from Keith for once without fighting with him. "You got it!" She turned to face a group of students behind her with her sleeping Eevee in her arms, and she grabbed four girls and five guys to assist her. "Come on! Let's go search all of the dorms!"

Isaac watched Rhythimi run away with her search party, and he quickly listened to the sound of the doors opening and closing. "Keith, some of the mechanics and I can search the Library and Cafeteria."

Keith nodded his head. "Yes! That's a great idea!" After Isaac and an additional six students went down the stairs, Keith turned his attention to the remaining students. "Everyone else, check the campus outside and all of the other classrooms!" Keith nodded his head. "Dismissed!"

Keith waited for everyone to leave before he went downstairs himself. Rena was his friend, and he was going to do everything in his power to ensure her safety. He ran down the stairs and quickly found himself standing inside the Teacher's Lounge, wanting to look for clues.

"Okay...scene of the crime." Keith awkwardly talked out loud to himself. He passed by all of the yellow police tape and walked all the way to the back, then glanced at the open safe.

The safe was wide open and completely empty. Keith wasn't really sure what exactly it was that he was expecting to find, but he was a little disappointed that he didn't find anything. For the next ten minutes, Keith looked around to see if he could find anything else. He didn't see any footprints anywhere, and the whole room still was very tidy. The large table that took up most of the room was covered in books and papers teachers started to grade, but none of it looked suspicious really. Keith was disappointed that he came to yet another dead end.

Beep beep!

Keith's cellphone buzzed, and he quickly pulled it out of his pocket. It was Rhythimi.

"Nothing in the dorms. There wasn't even a single clue in Kim's room."

Keith muttered curses to himself at the bad news, unhappy with this dead end.

"Bui bui!" Buizel came bounding into the Teacher's Lounge with his search party right behind him. Buizel had a very disappointed look written across his face. "Bui..."

"Nothing for you guys, either?" Keith sighed heavily. He crouched down to scratch Buizel behind his ear, which he happily wagged his twin tails in response to. "Well, it's alright. You tried."

"Keith!" Isaac came running into the Teacher's Lounge with his search party of Mechanics accompanying him.

"Yeah? Anything?!" Keith got himself really worked up with excitement, only to have his hope crushed immediately with Isaac's crestfallen look.

"Unfortunately, no..." Isaac sighed. "I honestly have no idea where she could have hid them!"

"There's nothing outside, either!" Another student came running into the room. "We checked both Ascension Square and the Training Gym!"

A human figure loomed outside the doorway to the Teacher's Lounge, but they remained outside the door. Their ear was pressed against the wall, just listening in to the conversation. They contemplated walking inside, but they got too nervous and backed out every time they tried to take a step into the room.

Keith plopped down in a chair at the large table in the center of the Teacher's Lounge. "How is that even possible?! There's over one hundred Stylers in that supply, so it's not like she could've left the campus with them!"

"...Umm, well, there's one more place you haven't checked yet..."

All of the students quickly turned their heads to the door at the sound of the quiet and timid voice that spoke up.

Keith slowly stood up from the chair he was sitting in, completely confused. "Bethany...?"

Sure enough, the figure that had previously been looming outside the door was Bethany: Kim's best friend.

The girl with straight, long blonde hair and hazel eyes grew more timid by the second. "I... I'm so sorry! I never thought that she would go this far!" Bethany sobbed, rubbing at her eyes.

Rhythimi cautiously approached her and set her hand on Bethany's shoulder. "Hey, it's okay. Calm down." Bethany quickly enveloped Rhythimi in a vice-grip hug, sniffling a little. "Bethany, if you know something..."

"I feel just awful!" Bethany sobbed again. "I didn't realize that Rena could go to prison if the Stylers didn't turn up! Otherwise, I never would've agreed to help Kim hide them!"

Everyone in the room just gasped, and Keith stepped forward. "Please, Bethany... Rena's life is at stake here." He pleaded her, acting way out of character.

Bethany let go of Rhythimi and wiped at her eyes. "My grandmother, Chairperson Erma, told me about this one secret spot on campus that she, Professor Hastings, and Principal Lamont used to hang out at when they were just kids at the Ranger School. I only told Kim about it because I thought that one day we could use it as our little secret base, but she told me it was a stupid idea..."

"Well?" Isaac stepped forward. "Where is it?"

Bethany reluctantly opened her mouth to speak. "You see, the Pledge Stone in Ascension Square..." She choked on her words. "...it moves when you press a secret switch."

________________________________

"Is this it?" Rhythimi asked Bethany, pointing to a small indentation on the side of the Pledge Stone in Ascension Square. Her Eevee was resting atop of her head, sleeping soundly.

"Yes..." Bethany nodded, hugging herself timidly. She didn't like the idea of turning on Kim, but she wasn't given much choice, given the circumstances.

Rhythimi had taken a majority of the students with her down to the Pledge Stone to investigate, with the exception of Keith and Isaac. The two boys immediately went to get Principal Lamont and the two cops, and they were trying their best to enact their half of the plan: arrange a meeting in the Teacher's Lounge. Rhythimi was in charge of delivering the evidence to clear Rena's name.

Rhythimi pressed the small button, and everyone gasped at the next turn of events. The Pledge Stone began sliding to the side, and a small staircase that lead to an underground base was revealed. She couldn't see what was down there, since it was so dark. She was just thankful that she brought her flashlight with her.

"Oh great..." Rhythimi gulped nervously. "Ugh, Rena is lucky I love her. There better not be any spiders down here..."

Toughing it out, Rhythimi descended the dark staircase. She flicked on her flashlight, and she gasped at what she saw. Standing before her was a gigantic mound of School Stylers, just piled up in the middle of the floor. Off to the sides of the underground base were pictures taped up on the wall, three desks, and posters were everywhere. Just as Bethany had described it, this place did look like it was used as a secret base at one point.

Rhythimi pulled out her cell phone and snapped a picture of the Stylers, then texted it to Keith. "I sure hope that idiot knows what he's doing..."

________________________________

Meanwhile, back in the teacher's lounge...

"Hmm." Principal Lamont stroked his chin thoughtfully. "So that's what took place in my absence..."

Principal Lamont had just returned to the Ranger School from a trip up to the Ranger Union, and immediately upon returning, two of his students dragged him into the Teacher's Lounge and began explaining this wild story.

Ms. April and Mr. Kincaid were standing off to the side, present for the meeting. Shortly after, Ms. Claire and Mr. Kaplan entered the room alongside the rest of the Ranger School teachers. The room quickly became flooded with teachers, and a few of the students that were involved were also there. The two cops stepped inside the room and stood over by the door, waiting to hear the rest of this.

"They have the wrong person, sir." Keith spoke up. "Rena didn't take the Stylers at all." He defended his friend, standing right beside Isaac in the middle of the crowd.

"Then who did steal them, Keith?" Principal Lamont inquired, listening to their story carefully. "And I sure hope you have some evidence to back up your accusation as well."

"Kim Daley, sir." Isaac spoke up. "We have reason to believe that she stole the Stylers, hid them on campus, and made it look like Rena was the one who did it so that she would take the fall and get expelled."

Principal Lamont exhaled sharply. "My, my. That's quite the accusation you have there." He turned to look at the two cops in the back of the room, addressing them immediately. "Well, what are you waiting for? Fetch both Rena and Kim and bring the two girls in here."

The Pueltown Police Chief nodded his head. "Uh, yes sir!"

Five minutes later, the two officers returned with both Rena and Kim by their sides, but Rena still remained handcuffed.

"Kim." Principal Lamont looked across the room at her. "Can you please explain to me what happened while I was gone?"

"Certainly!" Kim smirked evilly, shooting Rena a sideways glance. "You see, this morning I was walking to class when I noticed Rena acting awful suspicious. I followed her into the Teacher's Lounge, and I quickly hid as I watched her take the Stylers out of the safe and stuff them into a big bag!" Kim lied dreadfully, putting on a show with her exaggerations. "I then watched her take the Stylers upstairs to the dorms, and you know the rest from there." She smiled innocently, holding her head up high and mighty. She was clearly feeling proud of herself for catching the 'culprit.'

"Is that so?" Principal Lamont wondered out loud. He then looked over at Rena, wanting to hear what she had to say. "And Rena, what's your side of the story?"

Rena slipped out of her handcuffs, and the cops struggled to grab her again and restrain her. When she got handcuffed again, she just slipped out of them again. And again. And again.

The Police Chief just sweatdropped. "We're sorry, sir! We've never had this much trouble holding onto a witness before!"

Everyone in the room just sweatdropped.

"Rena..." Keith stifled his laughter, finding this highly amusing. "Cut it out already and just tell Principal Lamont your side of the story."

Rena sighed, annoyed. "Fine." She glanced down at her Mightyena, then back up at Lamont. "Ms. April asked me to grab her a stack of papers from the Teacher's Lounge this morning, and I was nearly late to class because I bumped into Kim in there and we got into an argument. Then, a little into class, Mr. Kincaid and Kim came running inside, and that's when Kim accused me of taking the Stylers." Rena stared at Principal Lamont with a bored expression, getting sick of having to say the same story over and over again. "I honestly have no idea where the Stylers are, because I didn't take them."

"Interesting." Principal Lamont observed, staring at the two girls before him. "Just as I suspected, your stories don't match up." He then looked over at Kim. "Kim, I do have a question for you, though."

"Yes, sir?" She smiled angelically, pretending to be innocent.

Principal Lamont stepped up to her cautiously. "You said that you saw Rena heading up the stairs with the Stylers towards the dorms, correct?" He asked her.

Kim nodded her head. "Yes. That's correct."

Principal Lamont frowned, pulling Keith's cell phone out of his pocket. "If that's the case, then how do you explain this?" He showed her the picture of the stash of School Stylers underneath the Pledge Stone.

The blood completely drained from Kim's face. "I... I umm, well...you see..." She quickly scanned the crowd until her eyes rested on Bethany. "Bethany, how could you just rat me out like that?!"

Bethany wore an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, but you just went too far this time! I don't want to be responsible for sending an innocent person to jail!"

The entire crowd of students and teachers gasped, and both of the cops just sweatdropped.

"Wait..." The cop holding Rena stared blankly at Principal Lamont. "So you mean to tell me that we've had the wrong person this whole time, and she was actually telling the truth...?"

"That's exactly what we're saying." Keith smirked triumphantly, crossing his arms victoriously. He looked over at Rena and flashed her a cocky smirk. Rena just groaned at the stupid flirt.

The Police Chief un-handcuffed Rena and stepped over to Kim. "Young lady, I suggest that you call your parents and get yourself a really good lawyer." He slapped the cuffs around Kim's wrists, and she protested very loudly.

"Hey! You can't do this to me!" She thrashed in the cop's grip. "Do you have any idea who I am?!"

"Kim." Principal Lamont looked over at her, completely disappointed in her behavior. "I don't care how much money your uncle donates to our school; this behavior is completely unacceptable. I hereby expel you from Ranger School."

Kim's lip quivered as this all began to sink in. "W-wait just a second! You can't do that!" She turned to look at Keith, begging for mercy. "Keith, I only did it for us! You have to believe me!"

Keith shook his head at her, jerking his eyes away from her pleading gaze. "You've gone way too far. I was able to put up with you before, but this is just the icing on the cake." He crossed his arms and glared at her angrily. "I don't know how in your right mind you thought that I could ever like someone so diabolical, and so jealous that you're willing to hurt my friends just to be with me. Honestly, I'm ashamed of you. People like you give us wealthy people a bad name."

Kim's heart shattered as loud as a plane crash.

"Do you have anything you want to say to Rena?" Ms. April glared at Kim, stepping up to her and turning her to face Rena. "You did after all almost get her sent to prison."

Kim's lip trembled as she angrily glared at Rena. "You stupid WHORE!" She lashed out in anger. "If you hadn't been such a skank and gotten between Keith and I, this would have NEVER happened!"

"Kim!" Ms. April gaped at Kim, completely astounded. "Watch your language! That's no way to talk to anyone!"

Rena just stared at Kim with a deadpanned look, brushing off her insults as if they were nothing. "You know, Kim? I've been wanting to do this for a long time now, and it looks like this will be the last chance I'll get to do it." Rena smirked evilly at Kim, enjoying her look of horror as she drew her head back for momentum.

BAM!

"AIIIIIIEEEEEEEYAAAAH!!"

Rena headbutted Kim right in the face as hard as she could, and Kim's nose made an unnatural cracking noise. Rena was quickly restrained by the other cop and Mr. Kaplan as the rest of the students just laughed at Kim's misfortune.

"Rena!" Ms. April scolded her. "You just...you just broke her nose!" She was completely shocked at how violent Rena's temper caused her to be. "Why...you! You're suspended for three days!"

The cops dragged Kim from the room in handcuffs as the teachers dragged Rena towards the detention room.

Rena just laughed as all of the students clapped and cheered for her. "Hah! ...totally worth it."

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XD XD XD XD you guys got so mad at me for leaving you with such a bad cliffhanger, so I felt motivated to quickly write this update...

I hope you guys enjoyed it ^-^ I laughed so hard reading your comments on the last chapter, seeing how you all hated Kim so much XD

Fan art by @diamond-confetti :) THANK YOU MY DEAR!!!

Read, comment, vote, and enjoy!