(Third Person POV)

Rena felt as if there were no words to accurately describe what it was like to fly on the back of a Staraptor; the feelings muddled themselves together. She had never been afraid of heights, but there was a strange exhilaration in flying that words could barely fathom to explain. All she did know for a fact was that it was awesome.

"There it is." Keith motioned with his head towards a spiraling, purple tower that rose much higher above than any building in all of Pueltown. As the night moon cast against it, its dark shadow engulfed the harbor city.

They had finally arrived.

"Time to touch down, I guess." Rena hushed as she nervously stole a glance at the ground one hundred feet below them. The thief was a little anxious about finally getting to execute this mission once and for all.

"Hang on tight, we're going to land now!" Keith brusquely shouted an order back to her, directing his Staraptor to begin his decent. Rena, riding with Keith on one Pokemon, drew a breath quickly as the high winds tried to steal it back.

"...wait, what!?" Rena quickly traced her shocked look towards the back of Keith's head, even though she knew he couldn't see the look on her face.

Keith was growing impatient with her new-found hesitance. They really didn't have the time to be awkward around each other right now. A mission was a mission. "Just hang on to me, alright!?"

"Okay..." Rena slowly wrapped her arms around Keith's waist and pressed her cheek gently against his back, hanging on tight to him. Her face slowly heated up, and her grip tightened as if to say she was ready.

On a single Starpator, the two humans barely fit. This was why it was good that their partner Pokemon had Pokeballs for transportation purposes.

Keith almost flinched at her touch even though he knew it was coming as they grew closer and closer to the tower below them. "Looks like there's some sort of riot out front. I'll take us to the back."

A swelling crowd of Altru's employees, who were recognized by their dark business attire, could be seen on the ground shouting and causing an uproar in front of the tower. One of Dim Sun's admins was blocking off the front doors, handling crowd control.

"Hey! You in the full-body leotards! Open the doors!" One of the men shouted to the admin, raising his fist to the air. His rage was a prominent flare that joined the inferno of workers.

"Is this some kind of sick joke? The company can't just fire us without warning!" One of the secretaries vocally expressed her complaint, but the panic of her unemployed future clung to the woman's tone of voice.

Another one of them voiced their angry opinion, their anger outweighing any consequences that could follow. "Don't treat us workers like we're disposable! We demand an explanation for why we're being fired!"

The Dim Sun admin in front of the door just rolled his eyes and carelessly disappeared within the building, locking the doors behind him. When the front row of laid-off employees heard the whispering click of the lock, their shouts and protests only grew louder and more apparent to the now mildly alarmed bystanders.

As Keith and Rena quietly landed a ways within a thicketed forest behind the dark tower, Keith jumped off the Staraptor and turned to face the tower. "Well. I guess those are the barriers we have to take out."

Thick, swirling stormy clouds ominously hung around the tower's peak as if they too were crowding around to see what would follow next. Any cloud wanting to get closer was pushed away by the first of three different colored layers of a barrier projected out by the tower's rooftop in domes. The outer most layer was colored yellow, the following being a pink hue, and sheltering the very center of the barrier was an icy blue layer. Keith had a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach as to why each of those were colored the way they were.

"We need to break through the security lock on the back door and slip into the tower without being noticed..." Rena went straight to business and squinted at the tower's back door from a distance, devising a plan of attack already.

"Come on, then. Let's go." Keith impatiently waved to her, trying to get her attention.

"Er... Right." Rena looked down at the Staraptor she was still sitting on, too embarrassed to admit to Keith that she really wasn't sure how to dismount from the gigantic bird.

She was a thief, not a sky trainer...

Rena took a chance and tried to lift one leg over the other side of the bird, but she quickly lost her balance and began to fall off.

"Ah!" Rena gasped with surprise, and she prepared herself for the impact with the cold hard ground.

But it never came.

Rena slowly opened her eyes to see that she was being held in Keith's arms right in front of him, held like a bride, only inches away from his face. For a few moments, their uneven breaths mingled with one another, and the heat brushed against each other's cheeks.

Keith awkwardly stared at her and slowly set the shorter girl back down on the ground. He had to think of something to say to her to break the awkward silence between them, and he had to think of something fast. By now, a blushing heat prickled up both their necks as they began to release their Pokemon out to join them in a disheveled way. In a bright flash, the two Pokemon were out; exchanging glances between their masters and each other.

Keith awkwardly cleared his throat and averted the pretty blue eyes that were staring at him in such innocent surprise. "You know, for a professional thief, you're a real klutz."

Smooth, Keith. Smooth.

Rena embarrassingly glared at him and marched ahead. "Am not..."

"Are too."

"Am not!"

It only took them about five minutes to reach the back of the tower. Rena and Keith kept their backs pressed firmly to the wall and tried to make it over to the back door, trying not to be caught by the roaming security cameras positioned around the base of the tower.

Isaac had been kidnapped by Dim Sun, and all of the data they had collected the previous night was taken with him. Luckily, he had just made a copy of the data from Rena's phone, so she still had the access codes with her. She spent half of last night in the lab with Nage and Vatona, two brother scientists working at the Ranger Union, trying to create the one card without Isaac's help. It was tricky, but they managed.

Rena swiped the fake key card through the back door's electronic reader and watched as the red light flickered green. A devious grin stretched across her face when she heard the locking mechanism click.

The small group quietly leapt inside the building, quickly finding themselves in a darker hallway. No lights seemed to be on, shadowing their vision as the long corridor seemed to stretch forever. They peered around a corner and spotted the luminous lobby, the one with a glittering chandelier, that they had just been dancing in the night before, and across the room from them were two Dim Sun minions pushing barricades in front of the doors. They were both just talking to each other as if nothing could possibly go wrong in their boss's perfect plan.

"There! That ought to do it!" The Dim Sun moron dusted his hands off together as he directed his excitement to the Dim Sun idiot.

The Dim Sun idiot scoffed quietly to himself before crossing his arms over his chest. "That ought to keep out law-abiding employees and annoying Rangers."

The Dim Sun moron couldn't agree more as he turned around laughing. "Hah! Yeah, I'd like to see those pesky Rangers just try to get in through those---uh oh." He suddenly froze in place and looked completely horrified.

"What is it?" The Dim Sun idiot turned to look at what his partner was scared of, and he suddenly caught sight of Rena. Who, by disturbingly sneaky ninja skills, was standing nose to nose with the idiot. "OH COME ON!"

Rena threw her head back with a stomach splitting laugh. "Forgot to check the back door, I see."

BAM!

Keith flinched as both of Rena's fists simultaneously collided with the two men's faces, successfully sending them crippling to the floor with bloody noses.

"Owww!" One of them bitterly whined, clutching their broken nose.

"What are the Rangers doing here!?" The other of them asked without breathing through their nose.

"Well, I thought that was pretty obvious." Keith snickered at their misery just a little bit.

"Run away!" The Dim Sun moron quickly shot up from the ground and turned to face the front doors, but then quickly sweatdropped. "No, the barricades are blocking the way!"

The Dim Sun idiot quickly shot his partner a glare and began mocking him. "I told you to hurry, but, oh, no..."

"Now what? What'll we do?" The Dim Sun moron quickly began to panic like a scared school girl.

Rena just slapped her forehead and slowly dragged her hand down her face. "Come on, Keith. Let's just go." She grabbed his hand and turned to pull him towards the elevator, but a girl Dim Sun admin quickly stepped in their way. Her ash-blonde hair curled slightly from under her black Dim Sun hat.

"We knew you were coming, Rangers!" A twisted smirk curled over her face as she slammed her fist on a red button wired to the wall. Everything came in flashes by the second.

A pulsing rufescent light engulfed the room followed up with a screeching alarm ringing Rena's ears with its frequency. The silver elevator doors hissed open with the next obstacle. Ten more minions came out through the doors and quickly began to box in both Keith and Rena, following the girl admin's barking orders.

Were all of their attempts to bust in foiled already...?

The admin placed her rigid hands on her hips; she scornfully glared at her subordinates, who lied on the floor with bloodied noses, with a look of disappointment in her eyes. "Kindly explain to me how Rangers could get this far?"

"You can't stop us!" Keith barked his irritation at the girl as they began to creep closer and closer to them. His Buizel swept around its master's feet and hissed loudly, ready for a fight.

They were completely surrounded. Sure, Rena had close combat skills that could squash them like bugs, but here was just too many of them right now to fight and protect Keith at the same time... She stole a glance to her own partner, Mightyena, whose hackles were raised with a low growl. He hadn't given up yet.

"Eww, you are so pushy and primitive! Make them go away, minions!" The admin quickly displayed her disgust with Keith as she scrunched up her nose and furrowed her plucked eyebrows. 

"Your epic adventure ends here, Rangers!" One of the minions bitterly smirked in Rena's direction, causing her to roll her eyes from how boring he was to her.

"You're not going to stop Mr. Hall! I won't allow it!" The girl admin shook her head to dismiss the idea of ever losing this fight.

They were really closing in on them now...was Operation Brighton over already?

Ring ring!

...

Rena just sweatdropped as she pressed her back firmly against Keith's, holding up her fists menacingly in attempt to warn the minions to back off. "Please tell me your phone isn't seriously going off right now..."

Keith's face turned a shade of red that put his hair to shame as he slowly pulled his phone up to his ear. "...Hello? Umm, I kinda can't talk right now, grandma... I'll call you later..."

Rena struggled to stifle her laughter as Keith hung up his phone. "Your grandma...?" Even Buizel looked disappointed in the red-head.

"Shut up..." He embarrassingly shouted back at her, glad she couldn't see his face right now.

"Do you even think there will be a later?" Rena continued to press as if their enemies weren't surrounding them, receiving a swift jab in the thigh from the bitter Top Ranger. "Ouch!"

The Dim Sun minions all stopped closing in on them and stood there stunned for a moment before they suddenly fell to the floor laughing. Although the price of getting away was whatever Keith had left of his dignity, at least they successfully distracted them for at least a second.

Which apparently was long enough.

"TAAAAARRRGETTT!"

"...Huh?" Rena quirked an eyebrow in confusion as she directed her attention over to the front doors, having heard a shout come from the other side.

Keith chuckled in relief and pumped his fist into the air. "All right! Go Barlow!"

"CLEEEAAARRR!"

BANG!

The front doors to Altru Tower were thrown off of their hinges and were sent flying forwards into the main lobby where they crashed and clattered onto the tile floor, the glass glazing shattering into thousands of pieces. Barlow, Crawford, and Luana all came in charging through the front doors and broke down the barricades. Barlow lead the group, and the Area Ranger Base Leader wore proud smirk on his face when he found Keith and Rena in distress.

The Vientown Ranger Base came just in time.

"Rena! Keith! Are you alright?" Barlow asked as he shot menacing glares at the trembling Dim Sun minions that were beginning to back off already.

Rena nervously waved to the large man who literally came busting through glass doors. "...We're good."

"We got the call to support your Operation Brighton!" Barlow clunked his fists together triumphantly with his Makuhita partner. "Let us deal with annoying dregs like these. You two need to keep going!"

"Roger that, leader." Keith saluted to his former boss as he grabbed Rena's hand. "Come on, they've got this."

As Rena was being pulled towards the elevator, she shot Keith a worried look. "Are you sure...?"

"Oh yeah..." Keith chuckled as he glanced back at Barlow's sinister grin. "Don't you worry about him."

Rena sweatdropped at the look of terror the minions all seemed to share at the sight of Barlow, but she quickly turned and leapt into the elevator with Keith, both their Pokemon at their heels. They had no time to lose, after all.

Keith looked around the inside of the chrome elevator as the doors automatically shut behind them. There weren't any buttons except for one beside a speaker of some sort.

"This elevator has no buttons." Keith blinked back his shock, unsure of what to do next.

"Really? What gave you the first clue?" Rena sarcastically shifted her hands to her hips as she glared daggers in his direction.

"...How do you operate this?" Keith dismissed her menacing glare entirely as an electronic voice suddenly came on over the intercom, having heard Keith's voice.

"WELCOME ABOARD. PLEASE ENTER YOUR PASSWORD. WHEN YOU HAVE ENTERED YOUR PASSWORD, YOU WILL BE TAKEN TO YOUR WORK FLOOR."

"It's voice operated, you dummy." The master thief rolled her eyes and carelessly shoved the red-head to the side. "Get out of the way."

"Hey!" Keith barked his displeasure at her, but he dusted himself off anyways and let her have the spotlight. "Alright miss know-it-all. If it's voice operated, what password do you have to use then?"

Rena looked back at the red-head with the most bored look ever. "Isaac worked here once, didn't he?" She held down the button and placed her face in front of the intercom. "Melody."

"PASSWORD ACCEPTED. WELCOME, PROFESSOR ISAAC. WE WILL STOP ON FLOOR NINE. ELEVATOR GOING UP."

"...Oh." Keith sweatdropped as the elevator shifted and began its ascent. "Well, I would have thought of that eventually."

Rena threw her head back and scoffed. "No you wouldn't have. Face it, you need me."

"Do not."

"Do too."

"Do NOT!"

"Do TOO!"

"NOT!"

"TOO!"

Their Pokemon exchanged crooked looks of almost relief to one another as their masters bickered like an old married couple. Though their bitter arguing was suddenly interrupted by the fast-moving elevator severely jostling into a harsh halt, sending Keith and Rena both crashing to the purple carpeting. All of the lights flickered out and the brunette carefully listened to the sound of machines groaning to an end due to a power outage.

"Huh? The elevator stopped three floors early---Hey! The power's gone out..." Keith complained from his sprawled-out position on the floor, beginning to pick himself up.

"Damn..." Rena cursed herself, "They must have suspected something when we used Isaac's password." She grudgingly pushed herself back up, gripping onto the cold railing for support.

A knock came from the emergency exit door at the top of the elevator. "Are you alright in there? I'm here to rescue you. Hold on!"

The lights suddenly flicked back on, and Rena turned to see a Dim Sun admin had thrown down a rope ladder through the hatch and had climbed down into the elevator.

"Haha! I lied! This is the end of the road for you two---" The bastard started to give his rant, but Rena suddenly cut him off by gripping his warm throat and slamming his back into the steel wall of the elevator.

"Shh." Rena silenced the poor guy by pressing the barrel of her pistol into the bottom of his chin, smiling cruelly. "You don't want to alert any more of your friends that we're here, do you?"

"No ma'am...!" The nervous guy squeaked out his cry, trying to pry Rena's hands off of his throat. His face was sweating and red as a beat while his oxygen slowly depleted from his system.

"Good boy." She praised him like she would her own Mightyena, who was curling his muzzle into a sort of smirk up to the admin from their feet. "Now... You know I have to do it, right?"

The guy bitterly nodded with a distressed look on his face. "Yes..."

Rena sighed quietly. "I'll do it as quick and painless as possible."

WHAM!

Rena slammed the back of her gun into his head, pistol-whipping the poor guy so hard that he fell to his knees unconscious.

Keith watched her in awe. "Why... Did you do that?"

"What?" Rena looked over her shoulder at him. "Did you think I was going to kill him?"

"Kinda looked like it for a minute there..." Keith shoved his hands into his pockets, shrugging casually.

Rena stared down at the floor as she shoved her pistol back into her holster. "I've never killed anyone... Hurt them, yes. But never killed. The gun is to slow down, wound, and threaten. But never kill..."

"Oh." Keith was almost a little surprised to hear that.

Buizel leapt up onto Keith's shoulder, motioning up above them. Both Ranger and thief turned their heads up quietly.

"Infiltration is complete." Rena gazed at the several floors in the elevator shaft above them that they had to climb up. "Next is phase two."

"What's phase two?" Keith looked over at the thief in her black catsuit.

Rena slowly turned her head to grin at him. "Kick ass."

Keith laughed and joined her at the ladder. "Now you're talking!"

The two hoisted themselves up out of the elevator and onto a platform in the elevator shaft. It was very dark and humid in the shaft, and metal belts and bars ran all the way up to the roof, creating the pulley system the elevator operated on.

"Looks like we climb up from here." Keith  pointed to various metal ladders running all the way up to what they presumed to be the ninth floor.

"Let's go." Rena gripped the first rung of the ladder and started to pull herself up.

They both climbed up the first ladder with their partners and all the way up to the next platform. When Rena got up, she immediately turned around and gave Keith a hand to pull him up too. Unfortunately for those two, there was already an admin lying in wait with a Miniremo ready to go.

"Time to put an end to you two before this gets too far." The Dim Sun admin chuckled and cracked his knuckles, immediately gliding his fingers across the keyboard and typing in commands with light clicks that filled the darkness with haste.

"Rena, let me handle this." Keith protectively stood in front of her, holding an arm out to keep her from proceeding any further. His Buizel took the stage, ready to defend also.

"Fwaaah. I'm positively worn out from waiting for you." The admin stretched his arms upwards and yawned a little bit as three Gabite suddenly appeared around his Miniremo as if they already heard the command. "As Heath was saying about you, you don't look much in the way of intimidating."

Keith darkly chuckled as he booted up his Styler and released his capture disc. "Then you have obviously not met me or the chick behind me there. She's pretty fucking scary on her own." He bitterly smiled as he began the capture.

Rena pretended to be flattered and flipped her hair casually. "Why, thank you!"

Rena watched as Keith performed his capture. Never before had she witnessed a Ranger perform such an exemplary capture before. Sure, she had performed them herself in Ranger School, but she never had seen a real Top Ranger do one. He moved so quickly with such style and ease, and he made it look so easy. Watching Keith do this capture just reminded her just how hard it was to be a Ranger, and she was impressed by how much his skill had improved over the years. Then it slowly flooded over her as she recalled everything she had missed in that year; time and trust she believed she could never get back.

"Capture complete." He clicked his Styler back into place as he watched the admin's Miniremo explode into a million tiny pieces. The look of shock on the guy's face as his Gabite came to their senses and fled was priceless.

"Wha wha wha... HOW!?" The admin threw his arms up into the air in frustration.

"Truly sorry about this..." Rena approached the admin casually with an unconcerned look on her face. "...but I can't exactly have you running back screaming to your friends."

WHAM!

His body clambered onto the floor with a big thud, and he was instantly knocked unconscious from the blow she delivered to the back of his neck.

Keith sweatdropped a little bit at how quick and decisive she was. "...are you going to do that for every idiot we encounter?"

Rena shrugged as she gripped the rung on the next metal ladder. "Kinda have to."

Mightyena and Buizel snickered and shook their heads at their two masters, quickly following them up to the second platform.

On this platform, there were two Dim Sun Crimson units waiting for Keith and Rena, chatting away like girls do and fixing their thick plaster they considered to be "makeup."

When one of them landed their eyes on Keith, she jumped up in a grumpy rage. "I knew it! I thought it had to be you!"

Keith just sweatdropped. "Err..."

"Don't you dare claim not to remember us!" She took offense to Keith's forgetfulness.

"Another one of your one-night stands?" Rena bitterly glared over in his direction.

"What? No!" Keith threw his hands up into the air defensively. "I haven't even considered seeing anyone else since you---" He quickly slapped his hand over his mouth, surprised by himself for letting that slip.

Rena was thrown completely off guard as she blinked innocently up at the taller boy. "Wait... Really?"

"Sh-shut up..." Keith stammered as he tore his gaze from her and stared down at the floor.

"...well I was just going to say that we are the Dim Sun Crimson unit and the humiliation you subjected us to inside Boyle Volcano is unforgivable, but..." One of the crimson units stared at Rena and Keith in awe. "...I kinda feel like I'd rather make some popcorn and continue watching this romantic comedy you guys have going on here."

Rena's face flushed a deep shade of red in embarrassment. "W-we're not a couple! It's quite complicated, really..." She cut herself off and sighed bitterly. "Ugh, I seriously don't have time for this right now!" Rena walked up to the two girls and abruptly clocked their heads together pretty hard.

"OWW!" They both yelled as they fell to the floor, clutching their heads that were throbbing in pain.

"Let's go, Keith." Rena pushed past the wailing girls on the floor and started to climb up th next ladder.

Neither of them paid notice to one of the admins who stared up at the two of them. Even though they were on opposite sides, the admin hushed to herself, "I ship it..." before the pain became more unbearable.

On the final floor, Keith, Rena, Buizel, and Mightyena came face-to-face with yet another Team Dim Sun admin waiting for them at the top of the ninth floor. "Welcome, Rangers!"

"Actually, I'm not a Ranger." Rena childishly interrupted him without a care in the world. "I'm a criminal. He's the only Ranger here." She punched Keith in the shoulder lightly to draw the attention to him.

Keith flashed his Styler to the admin, enjoying being a show off. "Yep. I'm a Top Ranger actually."

The Dim Sun minion seemed pretty bored actually as he stared ahead at the two. "Whatever. Look, I'm under the orders from our leader, Ice, to treat you with the utmost courtesy..."

WHAM!

"Rena!" Keith quickly scolded the woman standing over yet another unconscious minion with her fist held up.

"What?" She glared fiercely at Keith with a bitter attitude. "I was going to have to do that anyways..."

Keith crossed his arms over his chest uncomfortably. "What's with you and that Ice guy, anyways?"

Rena froze in the middle of stepping through the doorway, tensing up. "What about him. There's nothing to tell."

Keith didn't want to beat around the bush, but he didn't really want to know, either. "There isn't something between you guys, is there...?"

"What?" Rena turned around suddenly and glared at him in confusion. "Why would you even think that? He's like... Fifteen years older than me."

Keith tried to smother his jealousy as he jammed his fists into his pockets. "I... I don't know." He looked at anything but her as Buizel and Mightyena followed this conversation. "It just seemed like your heart was broken a couple days ago when you were yelling at him during the union raid..."

Rena sighed deeply and walked back over to Keith, disregarding his personal space as she placed herself right in front of him. "Keith, I've never loved anyone other than you in my entire life. Ice was my handler during the job, and he was my trusted friend. That's why I was so upset that he betrayed me." She rested her hands on Keith's chest, staring straight up into his red eyes. "Ice and I were never anything more than friends." Her words were ones that he wanted to hear so long ago, but from the way the thief said them... It didn't feel right. It felt like they were dying.

Keith stared at her for the longest time as he felt the world just suddenly come to a stop. Everything froze on this moment, this moment where they were together with each other again. Their noses brushed each other as the distance between them seemed like nothing.

And in this moment, Keith felt the barrier he had put up between them just shatter. Yet hers still was stronger than anything, despite her words. Despite her sinking blue eyes.

"Uhh..." Keith nervously laughed, pulling away from her completely. "We should keep going." He walked ahead and went through the doorway that lead into the ventilation shafts, leaving Rena behind.

Rena's disappointed eyes quickly flickered to the floor. Jheeze... How could she be so dumb? She couldn't just expect him to get over it so quickly...get over her betrayal. What was she even thinking, being so forward with him? And his rejection was just embarrassing...

Buizel and Mightyena vocally expressed their frustration to Rena and mentally flipped a few tables. Rena stared oddly at the two Pokemon throwing hissy fits, wondering what suddenly got into them.

Rena shook her head and went to join Keith in the large ventilation shaft; it was tall enough for them to not have to crouch down, but it was very skinny to the point where two people couldn't walk beside each other. They walked straight ahead, turned left, and then turned right twice. At the end of the shaft, Keith managed to pry open a grate on the ground for them to jump down through.

Rena peered down through the hole in the floor and wrinkled her nose up in disgust. "Ugh. This looks like the garbage room..."

"Well, we don't have much choice." Keith sighed quietly as he looked at the ventilation shaft's dead end right next to him. "This thing's a dead end, and this is the only grate that leads to the ninth floor."

"Well, here goes nothing..." Rena motioned to jump down through the vent, but Keith quickly grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Nope." He shook his head in defiance, scooping Rena up immediately into his arms and getting ready to jump through the hole. "I'm not risking you landing on broken glass or something."

"Keith!" Rena instantly protested, slapping him lightly to him to put her down. "Put me down---AHHHH!" She squeaked out a small yelp as they began falling through the hole, holding onto Keith tightly.

The two plummeted down through the roof and fell into a room piled to the top with garbage. Luckily, Keith managed to stick the landing and kept them from getting cut up by any broken glass.

Rena jumped out of Keith's arms embarrassingly, and she quickly dusted herself off. She looked up at Mightyena peering down at her through the hole with both amusement and caution, and she outstretched her arms to him. "Come on, boy! I'll catch you!"

Rena effortlessly caught her mutt in her arms after he jumped through the grate, and Keith caught Buizel when he jumped too.

Keith and Buizel suddenly walked out the door without a word, and Rena and Mightyena quickly followed behind. Obviously he wasn't going to acknowledge what just happened between them. Rena rolled her eyes just at the thought.

Leaving the garbage room, Keith and Rena found themselves in a large space with various doors and rooms lining the walls of the square space. Around the corner was a strange, electronic gate with four glowing red shield plates decorating the front. The gate seemed to be blocking off what looked like the entrance to a research lab, and four Dim Sun admins were squabbling with each other in front of it.

Keith suddenly grabbed a hold of Rena, pulled her back into his chest, and covered her mouth with his hand as he ducked behind a corner, keeping them out of sight.

Rena made some sort of muffled cry, but Keith pressed his hand harder over her mouth to shut her up and keep them hidden in the shadows. "Shhh, be quiet."

Rena slowly nodded her head, and their two Pokemon pressed themselves further up against the wall to keep hidden as well.

"Hey! I'm getting word that Rangers have infiltrated the building. Is the yellow gem secure?" One of the admins barked her complaints to another, pacing back and forth.

"The yellow gem is in secure storage in the back here." A more carefree admin leaned up against the electronic gate, scoffing a little. "This gate isn't about to open easily. There's nothing to worry about."

"Yeah, our Miniremo units are the keys to the gate." Another one of the guys patted the nervous girl's shoulder. "Unless the Rangers can find and beat all of us, that gate is staying shut."

"Yeah, I agree with that." Another girl nodded her head hastily. "Even Rangers can't take all of us out."

The guard standing by the door behind the gate rose his voice to be heard. "Okay, everyone understand their roles? If we spot any Rangers, we nab them, then bind them a smidgen on the tight side. With that done, we march them over to Ice and file our report. Got it?" He asked the four admins after barking his orders.

"Okay!" All four of them cheered together as they all took off in different directions. Each admin went to a different room on this floor to hide.

Keith let go of Rena and spun her around to face him. "...Oh-kay. So, now we know where the yellow gem is." He peered around the corner at the gate. "That gate's supposed to open if we smash the Miniremo units. Since we're here, let's recover the yellow gem first." Keith quickly gave his suggestion, but Rena disagreed.

"No." She shocked Keith to the bone with her chilled words. "Yes to getting the gem, but no to breaking the Miniremo units. We don't have time for that." She immediately bolted towards the gate, pulling her gun.

"Rena, NO!" Keith lunged forward to stop her, but she slipped through his fingers.

Rena stopped herself ten feet from the gate and lined up her sight, taking aim at each of the red shield plates that stood as anchors to keep the gem safe. And then she pulled the trigger.

BLAM!

BLAM!

BLAM!

BLAM!

She fired a single bullet into the center of each plate, and she watched as the whole gate seemed to power down.

"Mightyena." She looked over at her most trusted partner. "Take it off its hinges."

Mightyena growled menacingly at the gate as he stood his ground. He began charging and absorbing a malicious power, and his eyes suddenly became engulfed in a blackness. Then, with a great roar, Mightyena released a powerful pulse of pure darkness that completely obliterated the gate and blew the pieces away in all sorts of directions.

The guard left standing in front of the door was shaking uncontrollably as he stared at the empty space where the gate once was, and the angry woman pointing a gun at him.

Rena held her firm gaze and did not put her gun down. "So. What'll it be?"

The Dim Sun minion stared at her for only a second longer before running away from her terrified, leaving the door completely unguarded.

Someone came up behind Rena and grabbed a hold of her gun, pushing her hand down to her side.

"Rena." Keith stood in front of her and looked into her grief-stricken eyes, not falling for the strong front she was trying to put up. "I'm worried about Isaac too, but you have to stop being so reckless." He took the gun from her and discarded it immediately. "You're not a thief anymore." He pressed his hands down on her shoulders, leveling his gaze with her. "So stop acting like one."

Rena tried to stop the tears from pouring out of her eyes; the tears that reflected her pain and her worry for Isaac and Melody. She looked at Buizel and Mightyena and their remorseful faces, and then back at Keith whose stone-cold expression was starting to crack.

"That's where you're wrong." Her blunt, cold tone of voice even shocked Mightyena. "I am, and always will be, a thief. That's the exact reason I'm even part of this mission, right?" She wiped at her eyes and pushed herself away from him, walking over to the door. "I don't deserve to be allowed a chance at redemption. I really don't."

"Rena, wait---" Keith chased after her into the research room, trying to catch up.

As they came charging in, Keith and Rena quickly found themselves in a war zone.

"Oh thank god!" One of the researchers in the room sighed deeply in relief. "Please help us!"

All six of the researchers had been pinned to the walls around the room by the several thousand lazer beams that ran across the entire area from every possible angle. The red beams surrounded a large clear case in the center of the room that a yellow, crescent moon-shaped gem rested inside. Sven and Wendy were circling the top of the tower with a blue tear drop-shaped gem and a red flame-shaped gem, so this must be the yellow gem Rena had heard so much about.

The researchers were prevented from moving, because these weren't any ordinary lazer beams.

They were radiating heat.

Rena's eyebrows quickly disappeared into her hairline. "...uh oh."

"What?" Keith worriedly looked over at her. "What's wrong?"

Rena exhaled sharply. "Uh, Keith... Stay back. And whatever you do, don't touch those beams unless you want a third degree burn. Or worse." She slowly started to walk towards the beams, keeping her back to him.

"What!? Then get away from those!" Keith lunged forward to grab her, but his arm slightly bumped one of the beams. "Agh!" He pulled his arm back and clasped his hand over the burn, gritting his teeth from the pain.

He barely even touched it!

Rena took in one long, deep breath. She stared straight ahead at the minefield of lazer beams and threw her arms up, then slowly started to throw herself forwards into a cartwheel.

Time seemed to stop as Rena literally threw herself into the abyss of danger. She slowly bended her body to the shape of the beams and weaved in and out of them by doing a series of various cartwheels and back-flips. A nervous bead of sweat trickled down her forehead as she grew closer and closer to the case. If she slipped up even once, she was done for.

The trapped researchers and Keith watched her anxiously as she finally reached the case, and Rena slowly stood herself back up.

She turned her head and looked back at Keith over her shoulder with a large grin on her face. "Still want me to stop acting like a thief?" She slammed her closed fist on a red button programmed into the case, and her smirk only grew wider as the case opened and all of the lazer beams deactivated.

"Oh thank god..." The researchers suddenly all collapsed to the floor with relief. They had been standing there for about an hour, ever since the Rangers tripped the alarm.

"Rangers! Please rescue Professor Isaac!" One of the guys got up and ran over to Keith. "His sister, Melody, is being held hostage. They're threatening her with harm to make Professor Isaac comply. He's been forced into making the final adjustments to the tower's software!" The guy really started to panic with a look of guilt written on his face.

Another researcher walked up to Rena with a grim demeanor. "Professor Isaac should be up on the tenth floor... He's the brightest and youngest star among our firm's scientists."

The lead researcher stepped over to Rena and stood next to his comrade, looking pretty guilty as he stared down at the floor. "We got too caught up in our own research and became blind to our actions. We failed to imagine what our research was really being used for... It's far too late for regrets, but..."

"Hey, it's alright." Rena patted the guy on the back with a little too much strength. "Don't worry about it."

"I can't just not blame myself..." The lead research scientist looked completely crushed and remorseful. "Do you understand how bad this is? So many Pokemon and people could die if Mr. Hall gets the Incredible Machine to attain full power!"

A very dark shadow suddenly was cast over Rena's eyes as her voice trickled through the room, "I understand perfectly. And if anyone's at fault here, it's me..." She snatched the yellow gem and trudged out of the room with her head hanging low, dragging the depressing energy she had cast with her.

Keith's shoulders sunk as he watched her go. The more time he spent with her, the more he could feel her guilt, and her regret. It was starting to eat away at her. Or had it just been eating away at her since she failed?

...was what he saw in her now all that was left of Rena?

"Stay safe, guys." Keith quickly saluted the researchers before he ran out the door.

He found Rena on the right side of the room in front of a stairwell shielded by a purple electrical barrier. She was hacking away silently at the little password computer that was wired into the wall next to it.

He didn't say anything as he joined up with her and their two partners. Buizel and Mightyena were giving him a really worried look, which was practically screaming "do something!"

Keith listened to the sound of a beep echoing from the card reader as Rena swiped her master key, and with the click of a few more buttons, the shield went down and they had access to the stairs. Rena motioned to go up them, but Keith quickly jumped in front of her and pinned her small body against the wall, just as he did once before on her first day of Ranger School.

"Keith..." Rena sighed in annoyance. "What are you doing?"

Keith just looked at her. He looked at her really, really hard, as if he was trying to read into her thoughts. And then, all he said was, "I don't blame you," and then he turned on his heel and walked up the stairs.

Rena stood there in complete shock for a second there before smiling softly to herself. "Okay..."

When they approached the top of the tenth floor, four minions were already waiting for them. They were preparing to set up their Miniremos and attack the Ranger and thief duo.

"We are the super cool and super fab four brothers of the---"

Rena slammed her fist into the talking guy's jaw, and simultaneously she kicked backwards and sent her heeled boot crashing into another's stomach. She grabbed a hold of another's shoulders and threw him into the last remaining minion, sending them both crashing to the floor.

Keith just sweatdropped as the mini brawl came to an end, and Rena stood as the victor without a scratch on her. Quickly walking past Rena, he headed towards the door at the end of the hallway. "Remind me not to piss you off..."

The two shared a laugh together after the longest time, but the joy of that moment was immediately sucked away when a little girl's scream could be heard.

"Melody!" Rena cried out her worry as she slammed herself into the metal door, pressing her ear firmly against it to listen in. "Melody, are you okay!?"

"Rena!" She heard Isaac's voice yell at her from behind the door, and it sounded very panicked and worried. "Get out of here! They've got guns!"

Rena bitterly traced her glare over to Keith. "Too bad someone threw mine away."

Keith just rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, don't tell me that pistol was the only weapon you brought with you."

Rena pulled a large knife out of her boot and wielded it with a psycho grin on her face, "Of course not."

An admin from inside the room snapped at Isaac impatiently. "Isaac! Don't you care about your cute little sister? Hurry up and finish adjusting the system software. That's going to make Altru's birthday event a complete success!"

Keith tried to open the door, but it was locked. "Damn..." He fiddled with the lock some more and slammed his shoulder into the door, but he had no success. "Looks like I need to call in reinforcements..." He pulled out his Styler and began to call someone, confusing Rena immensely.

"Who are you calling?" Rena nosily inserted herself between Keith's arms, placing herself in-between him and his Styler so she could see, which almost made it look like they were hugging each other.

The screen lit up and Barlow's pudgy face suddenly appeared. "Oi, quit trying to get away you pipsqueaks---" He suddenly stopped himself when he saw Rena and Keith's astonished faces staring at him, his dark mustache twitching slightly. "Oh, hey guys. What's up?"

Keith chuckled and shook his head when he heard a few Dim Sun minions squeal with pain in the background. "Well if you've got a second, we've got a door in our way that could use knocking down. We're up on the tenth floor."

"Be there in ten seconds." Barlow nodded decisively before abruptly ending the transmission.

Rena turned around and crossed her arms. "So, how long will it take him to get here?"

Keith just gave her a weird look. "Didn't you hear him? He just said he'd be up in ten seconds."

Rena just laughed really hard. "You're kidding, right? Ten seconds? That's literally impossible---"

"Rena! Keith! I'm here!" Barlow shouted exasperatedly as he came running around the corner over to them, panting heavily. "Sorry to keep you guys waiting!" He sheepishly apologized for his tardiness.

"We didn't wait at all!" Keith chuckled at his former leader.

Rena's whole face was a white as a ghost as she stared at Barlow with her jaw on the floor. "Wh-wha... But that's not... It's not..."

Keith chuckled again as he slapped her on the back rather hard. "Once you get to know Barlow, you learn to stop asking questions. There are no answers."

"Is this the door?" Barlow pointed to the door behind them as he quirked an eyebrow, studying the metal obstacle. "Hmm... That's quite the door alright. Well, I've got to hand it to them, Altru does things right." He backed up a few steps and then charged at the door with full force, slamming himself into the metal door as hard as he possibly could. "Target clear!"

BAM!

He staggered backwards dizzily a little once it didn't budge. "Oww... Nope. If this door were the enemy, I'd shake his hand for being so tough." He turned around to face Rena and Keith. "Rena, Keith, you two help me!" Barlow ordered the two quickly with a sharp bark, and Rena didn't waste any time in stepping over to his left side, and Keith to his right.

All three of them braced themselves for a world of pain as they backed up even further this time, and they unconsciously held their breath as they charged forwards.

"TAAARGETT... CLEEEEAAARRR!" They all shouted together as they slammed right into the door, barely succeeding in knocking it off its hinges.

Barlow seemed completely fine and stuck the landing perfectly. On the other hand... Rena fell onto the hard floor as Keith fell right on top of her, and the two's faces were barely an inch apart.

Keith stared at her awkwardly before he stretched his lips into a wide grin. "Well, I'd have to admit if I was finally going to get you on your back, I was hoping it would be under...different circumstances."

Instead of slapping him like she normally would have, all Rena could manage to do was stare at him unbelievably. "Did you just...make a sexual joke about me?"

Keith immediately dismissed her concern before getting up and leaving her behind. "...nah. You're imagining it."

Rena slowly got up from the floor with a sly smile on her face. "It's about time I got you back..." She suddenly surged with happiness, shooting Mightyena and Buizel a look of confidence.

Now with her confidence and self worth boosted higher than ever before, Rena joined Keith and Barlow over by the Dim Sun goons and started to box them in maliciously.

The idiot holding the gun slowly dropped it at the sight of the huge, muscular Barlow, trembling with fear. "Y-You're too late anyway! And just by a minute, too. Isaac just finished the adjustments to the Incredible Machine!"

"Big sister!" Melody ran over to Rena with hot, steaming tears streaming down her face, sobbing intensely as she hugged Rena as tight as she could.

Rena cried a little two as she embraced the little girl. "Oh thank god you're alright... I've been worried sick!"

Keith walked over to Isaac and patted his shoulder. "Good to see you're alive still."

Isaac looked completely dejected as he stared at the floor, "I'm sorry..."

"Don't worry about it." Keith immediately dismissed the blonde's guilt without a second thought. "We don't care."

"You and Melody are safe. That's what matters to us." Rena smiled at Isaac as she handed Melody off to Barlow, who motioned to escort her and the three admins he arrested out of the building.

"Keep her safe," Isaac waved goodbye to Melody as she was lead out of the room, leaving Rena, himself, and Keith alone in the control room. "Let me come with you guys." Isaac firmly stated his position. "I know my way around the tower above us pretty well; you need to disable special software for taking the barrier down. I know how to do that. Take me with you!" Isaac pleaded Keith and Rena with an intense look of determination reflected in his eyes.

"Good to have you back, smartie." Rena casually threw in her old nickname for Isaac from Ranger School, making the blonde unconsciously smile brightly.

The three ran out of the control room immediately and tore around the corner at top speed, not wasting any more time. They stumbled upon the next staircase that was locked with the same purple electrical barrier, and Isaac quickly got to work on it. Even Rena's skill was paling in comparison to the genius's handiwork.

"And... Done!" Isaac clapped his hands together as the shield disengaged, and he quickly stepped aside.

"Let's go!" Keith quickly lunged forwards and ran up the stairs that lead to the rooftop.

"Wait for me!" Rena laughed as she quickly chased after him, and a flustered Isaac followed close behind. Everything was going so right that it seemed like nothing could go wrong now.

"Guys, slow down!" The mushroom-haired boy tried to catch up to them, being very out of shape and having little success. The small team of Pokemon following behind finally creeped past Isaac wearing smirks.

The three suddenly found themselves on the rooftop that was on the other side of that door. In the center was a large door that connected the rooftop to the five-floor scaffolding extension, and now it was time to go.

"I'll update Professor Hastings." Keith quickly pulled up his voicemail feature on his Styler, ringing up the Ranger Union.

"I got word from Barlow! Excellent work, all of you!" Professor Hastings' excited face quickly popped up on the screen. You could see a giggling Erma standing not too far behind him. "I'm having a Staraptor sent to you now. Keith, ride it, carrying the yellow gem. Join Sven and Wendy who are on standby overhead!"

"Roger that, professor." Keith respectfully saluted his superior, and he ended the transmission just after that.

"Oh, uh...here." Rena awkwardly passed the basketball-sized gemstone over to Keith, accidentally brushing her fingertips against his as she passed it off to him. It felt like static shocking between them, but neither showed it. "I guess you'll be needing that..."

"Yeah..." Keith stared at the yellow gem, then at her.

Isaac looked at how sad and grave the looks on their faces were, as well as their partner Pokemon, and that was the moment he was able to tell. He was able to see just how much those two really loved each other.

...if Keith could forgive her, then so could he.

After all... He always did believe in second chances.

Rena sighed in disappointment when she spotted a Staraptor off in the distance begin to get closer and closer to them. Soon enough, the gargantuan bird-Pokemon touched down right in front of them.

"I guess...this is good-bye." Rena looked up at Keith hopefully, trying not to let her worry get the best of her.

"Hey." Keith placed his hand on her shoulder, tucking the gem under his other arm after helping Buizel get up onto the Staraptor. "I'll be fine, and so will you. We'll finish this mission and come out alive in the end. I promise."

"Promises promises..." Rena scoffed, rolling her eyes a little. "Promises are always broken, Keith."

"Not mine." He smiled at her sweetly, stunning her for a moment.

Keith and Rena awkwardly exchanged a loving smile for a moment and slowly found themselves closing the distance between each other. This moment was just so peaceful, and they were both so happy that they could actually feel each other's happiness reflected on one another like a warm ray of sunshine. Their lips were only an inch apart when---

"Hate to break this up, but..." Lavana, accompanied by two admins and a Magmortar, threw the doors apart and matched outside. Her pink hair crashed down as the woman only held hate in her eyes, mirroring the ones of a controlled fire-type. "Kill her, Magmortar, and make sure it really sticks this time!" She jabbed a finger in Rena's direction, chuckling darkly as she ordered the hit on the thief.

The Magmortar pointed his cannon for a arm directly at Rena's heart with a heavy swing of its arms, charging a hot power and only a second from firing. The thief only had moments left before the lethal fireball would be released, crossing her arms into a protective X, when everything fell apart at once.

"RENA, WATCH OUT!"

Everything seemed to slow down as a swirling ball of flames and death was fired at Rena. Her body trembled as she felt something bash into her side.

It was Keith.

He had jumped forwards and pushed her out of the way. Rena's head turned just the slightest to watch the fireball grow closer and closer to him.

"KEITH, NO!" Rena shrieked with horror as she hit the ground and watched the fire ball collide with Keith's stomach.

The thief watched in horror as the blaze engulfed the only one she had ever come to truly love. The fire licked at his flesh as he was sent flying backwards, crashing into both Buizel and his Staraptor. All three of them were sent flying off of the roof, and they quickly disappeared from their sight. The fireball thrusting the all of them far, far away from the building roof into nothingness.

The yellow gem clattered to the floor, and Lavana quickly advanced to pick it up and regain possession of it. Rena immediately pulled herself up off the floor and threw her body towards the roof's ledge, straining her eyes severely in order to try and spot Keith.

But she didn't see him anywhere.

"Although I missed, I guess this wasn't a total waste now that we have the yellow gem back." Lavana chucked to herself as she slipped the gemstone into her bag, shooting Rena a menacing glare.

Rena slowly clenched her fists as her whole body began to shake with anger. She had no way of knowing whether Keith had survived that or not, and she had failed to protect him, all because he was trying to protect...her.

And she would make Lavana pay for that. And every other thing that bitch had ever done to destroy what Rena had left of her life.

Rena spun around swiftly and lunged for Lavana's throat, her filed nails ready to dig into her flesh like a Pyroar, but Isaac and Mightyena quickly got right to restraining her.

"Rena, don't!" Isaac held back his frustration and held onto Rena as tightly as he could, no matter just how worried he was about Keith. "She's not worth it!"

Mightyena helped pull her back by biting down on the fabric of her jumpsuit, but it didn't stop Rena from screaming.

"YOU BITCH!" Rena hysterically roared, thrashing like a rampaging Gyarados to get both Isaac and Mightyena to let go of her.

The entire ground began to shake with one large tremor, sending Rena and the others crashing to the floor. Lavana grabbed onto a support beam to keep her standing, and the tremor was over within a few seconds.

The pink-haired woman quizzically looked around her. "What? The Incredible Machine is switched on already?" She then slowly nodded to herself as it dawned on her. "Oh, I get it. It's designed to creep up to one hundred percent. It's going to reach that state when the date changes at midnight." She dusted herself off and scornfully glared at her two Crimson unit admins. "I'm going back to the barrier's control room. Girls, you see to these naughty children. Don't embarrass yourselves again!" Lavana flipped her hair and marched back through the doors with her Magmortar, losing interest in dealing with Rena herself.

"Thank you for trusting us, lady Lavana!" They cheerfully called out to her back as she disappeared from them, pulling out two Miniremos and beginning to type in commands. The two girls summoned a hypnotized Gardevoir and Scizor to attack Isaac and Rena, and they got ready to order the hit.

Isaac warily backed up as he eyed the two agitated Pokemon. "Rena, I know you're upset about Keith, but there's no time to worry! You need to go capture those Pokemon!"

Rena started to back up alongside the boy genius, darting her eyes back and forth between the two charging Pokemon worriedly. "How!? You forget that I'm not actually a Pokemon Ranger!"

Isaac pointed to a small object across the rooftop from them. "Rena, look!"

Rena looked at the object ten feet from her that Isaac was pointing at, and her heart lurched when she recognized it as Keith's Styler. The Gardevoir shot a huge blast of psychic energy at them, and Scizor was just about to chomp his pincers down on Rena's torso when she quickly shoved Isaac out of the way of the attack and made a break for the Styler, rolling on the ground to dodge Gardevoir's shot. When she reached it, she quickly picked it up and equipped it to her wrist, having absolutely no time to lose.

She turned around and aimed her capture disc at the two Pokemon, glaring at them intensely as the Styler booted up. "Capture on."

The two admins watched in terror as the slim woman expertly dodged every attack their Pokemon threw at her, and she counterattacked with that Styler of hers. She must have drawn over forty loops around each one of them over the past few minutes, intensely fighting against the enraged, hypnotized Pokemon. She seemed to struggle with grasping the concept of a capture at first, but she pulled through towards the end when the two Miniremos exploded into a million tiny bits and the two Pokemon seemed to snap out of it.

There was no way they could have known Rena hadn't performed a capture since Ranger School.

When it was over, the Scizor immediately fled, but the Gardevoir stopped and stared at Rena for a moment. She sweetly smiled at the woman before teleporting away somewhere, and she left Rena standing there with a tiny smile forming on her face.

Rena had almost forgotten the rush she felt when performing a capture, and how great it felt afterwards to have created a strong bond with the Pokemon she had captured.

"...I think I've found a new hero." One of the girls blinked at Rena owlishly, completely dumbstruck with her performance.

"The Rangers...are even kind of cool." The other stared at her in awe.

Rena slowly turned to look at the two girls with a confused look on her face. "I'm no Ranger."

The first girl quirked an eyebrow at Rena. "Then what are you?"

Rena hesitated as she stared down at Keith's Styler equipped to her wrist. "I... I don't really know."

The two girls quickly took off running from the scene, having being bested by Rena, and not long after that, Keith's Styler began to ring.

Rena was startled by the loud noise that caught her off guard, and she struggled with the Styler for a moment as she tried to figure out how to answer the call. She pressed a small blue button on the side, and suddenly the black screen lit up with the face of Professor Hastings.

"Keith! Listen, I---" Hastings began to excitedly relay some news to his Top Ranger, but he stared at the screen in confusion when he saw Rena instead. "Rena...? Where's Keith?"

Rena felt her whole body ache as her grief clearly showed on her face. "He... He was blown off the roof..." She covered her mouth with her other hand as she shut her eyes tightly. "I have no idea if he survived or not, professor...!"

"Good lord Arceus... We'll organize a search party for him at once." Professor Hastings' face grew very worried as he looked over at Erma by his side. "Rena, we have no other choice. You must keep going!"

"I-I can't!..." Rena shook her head as her whole body began to shake slightly from the shock. "I'm not a Ranger! I don't even have the yellow gem anymore!"

"We don't have any other choice!" Hastings expressed his concern with her, snapping the thief from her broken and hysteric daze. "You have to keep going and disable the barriers, retrieve the gem, and take it to the rooftop yourself!" Rena's eyes slowly widened as she began to feel almost a little...scared. "Can you do that?"

"Y-yes." She swallowed nervously, trying to rid herself of the anxiety that currently plagued her. She motioned to hang up when the professor quickly interrupted her.

"Wait! Wait! Don't hang up! I've got good news!" He quickly caught her attention before she ended the transmission, waving his hands around on the screen frantically.

"What is it...?" She wiped at her eyes as she mentally slapped herself to pull herself together.

"Our research team of Vatona and Nage have made a breakthrough!" Hastings excitedly clapped his hands together. "They completed the Styler software that makes the impossible possible! They've named it the Incredible Program, and, indeed, that's what it is!"

"Professor, cut to the chase, please?" Rena let out a tired sigh, stressfully rubbing at her temples.

"Oh, right!" Hastings sheepishly got on track. "It's designed to work with the three Tears of Princes taken from the pendants. Those colored stones were fitted into Keith's Styler, Rena, if you recall." Hastings continued as Rena looked down at Keith's Styler that had the three stones fitted into it. "We'll send you the Incredible Program to update Keith's Fine Styler in a minute. That will transform his Fine Styler into the world's one and only Vatonage Styler! Using it, you will gain the ability to capture even those Pokemon under enemy control!" Hastings quickly spat out the rest of his news, practically shaking with excitement. This was, after all, a long overdue major win for the good guys.

"Wow..." Rena blinked her eyes at the sight of Keith's Styler. That would certainly be helpful for later.

"Rena, you may know this already, but there is an ancient word in Almia." Hastings began giving her a bit of a pep talk, sensing her nervousness just from staring at a small picture of her face. "It is a word that means to rekindle the light that has sunk in darkness and restore harmony to the world. That word is vatonage. It's a word barely remembered by even those old men and women born in Almia." Hastings continued, sharing a glance with Erma. "But now, the ancient word is reborn as the name of Keith's new Styler! We will send you the Incredible Program, and with it goes our kudos to all the Rangers for their courage!"

"I won't let you down, professor." Rena bitterly smiled to mask her sadness, honorably saluting the professor out of her new-found respect for him and the chairperson.

When the transmission ended, Rena flinched when Keith's Styler began to glow a warm yellow light. After a second, the light dissipated and the words "upgrade complete" blinked at her on the screen.

It was finally time to fight the darkness.

Isaac and Rena quickly stepped through the door, really needing to get to work on disengaging the barrier. She was barely two steps inside when her Styler began ringing again, and this time, Sven's face popped up on the screen.

"Hey, kiddo. Sven here. You're in the tower, right?" Sven was riding atop of his Staraptor high up in the stormy sky, occasionally glancing down at his screen to look at Rena as he was flying.

"Yeah." Rena glanced around at the circular building with see-through glass walls and odd square-tiled flooring. "I'm up on floor eleven; once I head up to floor twelve, I should reach the first layer of the barrier's control room."

"Roger." Sven tipped his cowboy hat to her. "Hey. Impatience breeds mistakes, so be careful." He carefully warned her, worried about losing another comrade in the same night.

"Thanks for the tip." Rena nodded decisively. Sven disappeared from the screen as another incoming call came in, and Rena quickly picked it up.

"This is Wendy here." Wendy smiled her usual bright grin and waved to Rena. "According to the tower's blueprints, the barrier has three separate layers. Each of those layers appear to be controlled from a different floor."

"I thought as much..." Rena sighed deeply. "Didn't think those bastards would make it easy for me."

"Just giving you a heads up." Wendy waved goodbye before she quickly hung up.

Isaac nodded in agreement. "Wendy's got it right. There are three barrier-control floors above us. I didn't design the barrier system, but I know how most of it is set up..." Isaac looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "On each floor, there will be a circuit ball that feeds power to the barrier layer. There's only one problem. Well, actually three." Isaac anxiously twiddled his thumbs as a nervous habit.

Rena quickly realized what he was getting at. "The Sinis Trio is guarding the circuit balls..." She slowly started to grow more pissed off with each passing second.

"Precisely." Isaac sighed deeply. "Rena, are you going to be okay?"

Rena glared straight ahead as she readjusted her Styler on her right arm. "I'll be fine."

As she was about to march up those stairs and head up to the yellow barrier control floor, a large tremor shook the whole tower, sending Isaac and Rena both crashing into the wall as they held on to keep their balance. As the tremor came to an end, the tower's intercom suddenly switched on and an electronic voice began to give an announcement.

"THIS IS ALTRU CORE COMPUTER. THIS IS ALTRU CORE COMPUTER. THE INCREDIBLE MACHINE'S POWER IS CURRENTLY ONE. POWER NEEDED FOR LEVEL TWO IS... FIFTY PERCENT. I REPEAT, FIFTY PERCENT. POWER IS RISING STEADILY. THERE ARE NO ABNORMALITIES."

"Oh, no. We're running out of time!" Isaac started to panic as he pulled Rena back up to her feet. "The Incredible Machine only has three power levels, and it's going to hit level two soon. At level three, Almia's going to be in serious trouble!" The blonde frantically started twiddling his thumbs even more, worrying for the sake of every Pokemon and person in this world.

"Great..." Rena let out a sharp groan as she immediately tore up the stairs, dragging Isaac with her.

They walked around a spiral floor similar to the one they were just on that was electric-themed. Every wall was yellow and grey, and yellow lights decorated the steel-plated floor. A few Electric-type Pokemon under enemy control lurked around this floor, minding their own business. It wasn't very long until Isaac and Rena reached a large, yellow door.

"Heath should be in charge here." Isaac grimaced, not really looking forward to this.

"Well, let's go kick his teeth in." A spine-shivering crack erupted from Rena's knuckles as she marched right through the door.

Heath was off in his own little world standing in front of a large, electrical glass ball, petting a Rhypherior blissfully.

"I am hearing someone coming in... But I not smelling someone bad." Heath began talking to his Rhypherior. "They are not being our people, I can telling. You thinking so, too, my cute Rhypherior?" Heath cooed his Pokemon one last time before turning around to face Rena.

"Not really sure how you find that hunk of rock cute, but okay then." Rena shifted her weight from one leg to the other, smirking evilly at Heath.

"You! Thief! Again, you coming!?" Heath yelled at her in shock, very annoyed. "Even you bringing Professor Isaac, the traitor. You two coming in to turn off barrier system, you are?" He took a lucky guess, then scoffed in defiance. "Breaking this circuit ball is what you're intentioning on doing? No, I cannot let you doing that. I saying no. Allowing not so!" Heath glared at Rena, pouting like a small child.

Rena kept cringing at every word he spoke, finding it to be similar to understanding a foreign language. "Yeah yeah, I get it. Can you stop talking like a demented Feebas and just attack me already?" She covered her ears with her hands, emphasizing how irritated she was with him.

Heath pouted even more, crossing his arms childishly. "Fine. Rhypherior, you be getting her now! Girly go bye bye!"

Now that the Incredible Machine was powering up, he didn't even need a Miniremo to control this thing.

The large rock Pokemon sent a shiver down Rena's spine when it loudly roared, and she soon regretted opening her big mouth. She quickly grabbed Isaac and jumped out of the way of the charging Pokemon, barely dodging his attack. A large rock whizzed right by her head and went flying into the wall next to Rena. She quickly began looping her capture line around the the Rhypherior, trying to capture this stupid thing before it took her head off. It kept stomping around and causing earthquakes, making it that much harder to dodge anything that it threw at her. Literally.

She had underestimated how tough of a capture this would be, because this Rhyperior was surely one hell of an opponent. Rena got hit by a few smaller rocks from his repeating rock slide attack, but she kept pushing herself to keep going and didn't stop trying to capture the damn thing. It turned its back to her only for an instant, and Rena took this opportunity to circle it with her capture disc even faster.

Suddenly, her capture line disappeared, and Heath's Rhypherior blinked a few times before it quickly ran away.

"Losing! Again and again!" Heath immediately started kicking at the machinery lining the walls of the room, throwing a temper tantrum. "Depressing me, losing is... Cannot be showing my face to boss in this way now." He moped and pouted some more, staring down at the floor. "Oh, but then, I thinking, my pride gone. But that's all right. Important more is the barrier system, not pride for me." He grinned evilly in Rena's direction. "Not worrying, then! Barrier system is not break easy. But! I also planned ahead when being here waiting with circuit ball." Heath kept on relaying his master plan to Isaac and Rena like a complete buffoon. "I fooling with it, and putting on it, a secret thing for trap... No, no, no, never mind, I not saying! Bye-bye, adios!" He quickly changed his mind about revealing it and plowed right through Rena, running out the doors.

"That guy is such a joke." Isaac rolled his eyes, clearly unimpressed. "He probably programmed the circuit ball so it can't be hit with a Target Clear. But guess who taught Heath and the other two to program? I think Heath forgot it was me." Isaac shook his head as he walked up to the circuit ball's computer and began disarming the trap. "...And, bingo! See? Trap disarmed in 1.38 seconds. You should be able to use a Target Clear safely on this now." Isaac immediately stepped to the side, letting Rena have her way with it.

"Mightyena." She smirked down at her partner. "Care to do the honors?"

Mightyena bore his teeth into an evil grin as he lunged forward and unleashed a powerful crunch attack with his powerful jaws. The circuit ball cracked all over, and the whole thing completely exploded after being attacked by Mightyena.

Rena's Styler began ringing again, and she quickly picked up the call from Sven. "This is Sven circling overhead. Just confirming the outside layer of the barrier is gone. Two layers to go!"

"Has...anyone seen Keith yet?" Rena's cocky attitude from a moment ago completely faded as she began to show her worry for Keith once more.

She heard a low exhale from the other line. "Not yet. Uh, Rena, just... Don't worry. Keith's a tough guy." Sven ended the transmission, leaving Rena to wallow in her own worry.

"Yeah. Got it." Rena slowly booted off her Styler and stared off into space at nothing in particular. Everything began to feel light, and the room was swimming as she started to drown in her own anguish. What if he wasn't alright? What would happen then?

"I hope he's okay too..." Isaac somberly patted her on the shoulder. "Come on. Let's deactivate the rest of the barrier, and then we can worry about Keith."

"Okay..." Rena slumped against Isaac as he guided her out the door, gently tugging her in the direction of the stairs. Each step was like walking underwater.

As they began walking around the circular floor and approached the next stairwell that was pink in color, there was another violent tremor. Isaac quickly grabbed Rena before she was thrown off balance and helped keep her standing until the tremor passed. She was breaking inside more and more. Once again, the tower's intercom switched on and the voice gave another announcement.

"THIS IS ALTRU CORE COMPUTER. THIS IS ALTRU CORE COMPUTER. THE INCREDIBLE MACHINE'S POWER IS CURRENTLY ONE. POWER NEEDED FOR LEVEL TWO IS... TWENTY PERCENT. I REPEAT, TWENTY PERCENT. POWER IS RISING STEADILY. THERE ARE NO AB...ABNORMALITIES."

"This isn't good... The system is charging power faster than I expected." Isaac observed quietly to himself, looking around at his surroundings a little paranoid.

"Fucking wonderful." Rena let out a sharp sigh after her complaint, furrowing her eyebrows as she charged up the stairs.

They kept walking around the circular floor until they approached a similar door to the one from last time, but this one was a rose pink. The whole floor was lit up with pink lights, and Fire-type Pokemon lurked in the shadows. It was easy to tell who they would be facing next.

Rena didn't waste any time as she shoved the doors open with great force, marching inside angrily. She was going to make Lavana pay for what she did to Keith this time.

Well, it would have worked, except...

She wasn't here.

"Huh? There's no one here." Isaac turned around in a circle and glanced around the room. "I guess we lucked out. Let's smash the circuit ball while we can---"

Suddenly, the doors flew open once more, and Lavana and her Magmortar strutted in.

"Well, hello there. Sneaking around and avoiding my eye." Lavana walked right up to Rena and smirked at her face. "You seem to be having fun." She then turned her head and spotted Isaac, then walked over to him. "Well, if it isn't my darling computer teacher. You've realized your mistakes, and you've come to apologize, I take it. And, because you were so embarrassed, you brought that snide bitch with you as well!" She smiled evilly in Rena's direction, making it pretty obvious who she was referring to as a 'snide bitch.'

"You are predictable as ever, Lavana." Isaac rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest.

Rena and Mightyena joined in on the rolling eyes party, not really giving a damn about anything Lavana had to say. Rena was just looking for any opportunity to punch the uppity bitch in the face.

"You're not one for sarcasm, little boy." Lavana rolled her eyes, then waved her bandaged hand. "I know you're here to disable the barrier. You're about ten years too late." She smiled cruelly at her Pokemon and then darted her eyes over to Rena. "Magmortar! Burn that awareness into their heads!"

Rena immediately stepped between Isaac and the Magmortar. "Isaac, do what you can to the circuit ball while I take care of this." Rena wore a determined look on her face as she released her capture disc.

"Got it!" Isaac slipped past Lavana and made a break for the circuit ball, getting straight to hacking the data frame.

Rena looped her blue capture line around the Magmortar as best as she could, but she was unfortunately making little progress. It kept conjuring walls of fire and explosions, shattering her capture line every time she got close. Swiftly, the Magmortar fired its cannon at Rena, and the blast sent her flying straight up into the ceiling. The thief yelped in pain as her back smashed into the tiled roof, and she came crashing down to the floor with a hard thud. Mightyena, now alarmed that his master was injured, quickly began making himself useful and joined the fight. He used his various Dark-type poke assists to help keep the Magmortar off of Rena's back long enough for her to regain her bearings. She quickly rolled out of the way of the flamethrower attack the Magmortar shot at her, and she picked herself back up and aimed the capture line at the gargantuan Pokemon once more. Swiftly, she ran up to the Pokemon and looped her capture line around it as fast as she possibly could with her remaining strength, and she couldn't help but smile when her capture was complete.

The sight of Lavana's lower jaw snapping off and clattering to the floor was enough to make Rena swell with pride. "This...really happened? I should lose? It really happened...?" Lavana stepped back in shock, shaking her head unbelievably over and over again.

"Where is the yellow gem!?" Rena loudly barked at her, advancing quickly on Lavana and gripping her by the throat once more. This time, her fingers had minds of their own as they crunched deeper into the woman's soft and vulnerable flesh.

Lavana struggled to breathe, croaking with tears starting to sting her eyes in Rena's grasp, and she slapped the thief's hands as a signal to let her go. Rena was refusing. Her rage and hatred writhing inside as the thief clutched even tighter. Her beautiful blue eyes were like seas crashing with a thousand storms. Lavana started to slap faster at the hands of death, her strength hissing away. When Rena finally realized that if she wanted to get the gem, she'd have to let go, her fingers reluctantly plied themselves from Lavana. The woman fell to the floor, her hands caving to her heart as she floundered for the now abundant air.

"Ugh!" Through each muddled breath she scraped out her words, "I don't have it. That thing is too heavy to carry around!" She quickly ran from Rena once she saw her Magmortar had fled, being completely defenseless now.

"Rena, the trap's disarmed!" Isaac turned around excitedly as he waved to her. Rena blinked slightly, surprised since she didn't even notice him going to work on disarming the machine. "This one only took me 1.07 seconds!" He proudly admitted his accomplishment, happy he was at least somewhat useful during this operation. He knew both he and Rhythimi wanted to do all they could to help Operation Brighton be a success, and he knew in his heart that Top Operator was kicking ass back home keeping everyone together and handling communications.

Mightyena advanced on the circuit ball without being told to and destroyed it as he did the other once before, then proudly barked at his master when his work was done. Rena smiled at her puppy and patted him on the head, satisfied with his job well done.

Suddenly, her Styler began to ring again. "This is Wendy calling from overhead. The second layer of the barrier went out! Good going, Rena! There's only one layer left to the barrier!"

"Thanks for the confirmation, Wendy." Rena decisively nodded her head before ending the transmission.

"We're almost done! There's only the blue layer of the barrier left to take down." Isaac ran out the door with Rena, excited they had almost completed their mission.

They turned to go up the blue flight of stairs when just as before, the ground shook violently, and the tower's intercom turned on again.

"THIS IS ALTRU CORE COMPUTER. THIS IS ALTRU CORE COMPUTER. THE INCREDIBLE MACHINE'S POWER IS CURRENTLY ONE. POWER NEEDED FOR LEVEL TWO IS... TEN PERCENT. I REPEAT, TEN PERCENT. POWER IS RISING STEADILY. THERE ARE NO ABNONORMAMAMAMAMA... ABNORMALITIES."

"The system seems to be acting up...but it's almost at level two. We can't waste any time at all!" Isaac panicked even further as he got up and dusted himself off.

And with that, they dashed up the stairs and around the last circular hallway all the way around to the blue door, which obviously lead to the last barrier control room.

Although Rena was dreading going inside, for she knew exactly what she was going to find.

"This is the last of the barrier control rooms. You probably guessed it already, but the boss here is Ice." Isaac looked over at Rena and Mightyena as he relayed the facts. "He's the leader of the Sinis Trio. Don't get careless around him."

"I won't, believe me." Rena stormed into the control room, completely pissed off.

In front of the blue circuit ball was Ice, accompanied by a hypnotized Gallade. Ice had one arm in a sling, clearly an injury he had sustained from the union raid, and his eyes were colored blood-red.

"Hey there, Deveraux! It's so nice to see you again." He smiled at the brunette as she walked in, then shifted his gaze to Isaac. "And a big hello to our computer teacher... The boy genius: Isaac! Welcome to Altru Tower!" He carelessly threw his arms up into the air as if to introduce them to the tower. "Very soon the date will change. Yes, a new era is dawning in Almia. Join me in counting down the seconds to Almia's new beginning."

"I'll pass." Rena crossed her arms bitterly as Mightyena viciously barked at Ice, standing protectively in front of Rena.

"Gallade, attack them---" Ice cut himself off as he sharply winced and clutched his forehead, staggering to keep his balance. His body seemed to tremble like a personal earthquake as he cried out. "AGH!" He screamed in pain as he clamped his hands down over his eyes tightly. "GET OUT... OF... MY HEAD!" The man was combating something no one else could see, terrifying those who watched. Ice pulled at his hair and dropped to his knees, then glared at his Gallade who recoiled at the stare. "Get out of here before I lose my mind again..."

Rena stared at Ice in shock as the Gallade quickly fled the scene. The man continued to shake, ripping at his own skin like a beast inside. "What the---What are you doing!?"

"Quick..." Ice gritted his teeth in agony as he forced each mangled word out to her. "Destroy the circuit ball while you still can..."

Rena blinked at him with utter disbelief. "But---"

"JUST DO IT!" Ice shouted at her, growing impatient with her reluctance.

Rena wasn't sure what was going on, but she nodded her approval to Mightyena. The wolf Pokemon quickly advanced on the circuit ball and clamped his teeth down on it, shattering it into a million tiny pieces. It looked like the trap on it had been disabled beforehand.

Ice staggered to his feet and looked across the room at the very confused Rena, and she gasped when she saw his eyes were icy-blue once more. "Forget everything I said during the raid. That wasn't me talking."

Rena just looked at him oddly. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Ice gritted his teeth harder as he felt the pain surge through his mind even more. He only had so much time left to tell her. "They had that Pokemon take control of my mind once they saw my loyalties lied with you more than Dim Sun." Ice stood up straight and slowly walked over to Rena, each step holding him back with so much he just couldn't tell. "I haven't been in my right mind in over a year. It comes and goes, and I've been fighting for control ever since."

Ice crashed into Rena when the ground began to shake violently, his head sinking into the thief's shoulder, and Rena yelled out his name as she tried to keep him standing. He wasn't looking so good, and she was starting to worry out of her mind. Nothing made sense. She wanted to hate him, and something like this couldn't change her mind just like that. Altru's intercom switched on once more as the tremor subsided.

"THIS IS ALTRU CORE COMPUTER. THIS IS ALTRU CORE COMPUTER. THE INCREDIBLE MACHINE'S POWER IS CURRENTLY ONE. POWER NEEDED FOR LEVEL TWO IS... VERY LITTLE. I REPEAT, VERY LITTLE. POWER IS RISING STEADILY. THERE ARE NONONO ABABABABNONONONORMMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA. THERE ARE NO ABNORMAMAMALITIES."

"Sounds like it has abnormalities galore." Ice rolled his eyes as he regained his balance. "Rena, you are almost out of time." He turned to face the girl he cared for so much with a look of concern. There was no more time left. "The Incredible Machine is going to reach level two shortly. And, the highest level, three, will be achieved when the date turns. It's going to be right on schedule with Altru's birthday. You have to hurry."

Rena shook her head at him, not sure what to believe anymore. "Whose side are you even on...?"

Ice slumped his shoulders as he pulled the yellow gem from his jacket. "I don't even know anymore. I never wanted any of this..." He handed the gem over to Rena, feeling himself begin to lose control of his mind once more. These moments were starting to slip back into an insanity, "Just take it and get out of here!" He clutched his eyes again, fighting off the pain as best as he could. Fighting what controlled him just for one more second.

Rena cautiously stepped back from Ice, protectively standing in front of Isaac and Mightyena. "What is wrong with you...?"

He stopped fighting.

His shoulders fell.

...He was gone.

"...Ice?"

Ice slowly looked up at the thief with a crooked smile and blood red eyes of a twisted hell. "Oh, just a little girl. Lost and broken little girl. Where to go? You lost so much. And you know what'll happen after this mission is over. But it doesn't have to be. Just embrace your inner darkness, Deveraux. Embrace it and join me." He held out his hand to her, waiting for her to accept it. "You know you could never actually be good."

Rena stared at his hand for the longest time with her blue eyes frosted over. His words were what she'd repeated to herself before. His truth struck her like a knife. Her long set gaze at Ice's extended hand concerned Isaac as his eyebrows folded together. "Rena, don't do it! Don't listen to him!"

"Deveraux, you know what the answer is."

"Rena, he's lying to you!"

"You just have to take my hand."

"Rena!"

Isaac's voice of reason snapped her from her shadow-engulfed thoughts, and she quickly shook her head. She shook her darkness away as she glared at the man consumed by his, "No. Never again. I promised someone I would change, and I will."

"AGH!" Ice screamed at the top of his lungs in pain, startling Rena.

"Ice!" Rena worriedly ran towards him and gripped his shoulders, lightly shaking him. "Hey, snap out of it! Come on!"

Ice uncovered his blue eyes and stared at her very tiredly. He fought just for these last seconds, "Rena, I need to tell you something before you go."

Rena shook her head and stepped away from him. "No... I won't listen to anything you say anymore. I can't trust you anymore, Ice!" She turned to run away, dragging Isaac and Mightyena with her.

"RENA, WAIT!"

She slammed the door behind her and quickly bolted for the last staircase with frustrated tears in her eyes, wanting to get as far away from him as she possibly could. She didn't know what to believe anymore.

She didn't know who to believe.

She stopped halfway up the stairs when her Styler started to ring again. "This is Sven circling overhead. The barrier's final layer is gone! The barrier's down! We can get close to the Shadow Crystal any time we want." Sven reported in, sounding hasty and ready to get this show on the road.

Professor Hastings immediately joined in on the call. "Hastings here! Sven and Wendy, can you hear me above the tower?"

"We hear you loud and clear, professor!" Wendy's face popped up on Rena's screen, and she grinned excitedly at the professor.

"Good." Hastings nodded his head,"Circle the tower and get as close to it as possible. Even the two gems you have will have an effect on the Shadow Crystal!"

"Hey guys, Rena here." The thief hastily spoke up, gaining everyone's attention. "I have the yellow gem secured, and once I reach the rooftop, I'll get it as close to the Shadow Crystal as I possibly can!"

"Roger!" Sven nodded.

"Understood!" Wendy added.

Rena quickly dropped the call and ran up the stairs further with Isaac as another tremor suddenly occurred. They thundered, causing the tower to groan in discontent, as the tremors lashed out at the infiltrators.

"Whoa!" Rena gripped the railing to stay up. "This one is worse than the last one!"

"THIS IS ALTRU CORE COMPUTER. THIS IS ALTRU CORE COMPUTER. THE INCREDIBLE MACHINE'S POWER HAS REACHED LEVEL TWO. POWER NEEDED FOR LEVEL THREE IS... NINETY NINE PERCENT MORE. NINETY EIGHT PERCENT MORE. NINETY SEVEN PERCENT MORE. NINETY SIX PERCENT MORE. NINETY FIVE PERCENT MORE. NINETY FOUR PERCENT MORE. THERE ARE NO <^><^><^> BWEEEEEE GZGZGZGZ..."

"Look at the gauge on the floor!" Isaac pointed to a gauge of three lights underneath the glass floor that had two of them lit up. "The Incredible Machine's power has reached level two! Once it gets there, it takes almost no time for it to reach level three! President Hall's going to win at this rate!"

"Like hell I'll ever let that happen." Rena gripped Isaac's hand and pulled him up the stairs and into the research floor as fast as she could.

There was a glass bubble on the floor with eight black Gigaremo controlling a dark, murky shadow inside. Being in this room started to give Rena an agonizing headache. She froze in her place as she stared at the shadow in complete terror, and all of the blood drained from her face. She didn't know why she was so scared, but looking at this shadow was like looking at pure evil itself. It felt like she was looking directly at the enemy she had been fighting for so long.

"Keep going. Don't look at it." Isaac gripped Rena's arm and pulled her to the stairs, leading her and Mightyena up to the final floor.

"G-got it..." Rena shook her head to snap out of it as they finished climbing the stairs.

This final floor before the rooftop looked a lot like Altru's lobby, except there were two large staircases opposite of each other that lead to the rooftop. A grey electrical plate that connected the two staircases erupted with strong electrical currents that would surely electrocute anyone who stepped on it to death.

"Huh? What is that machine?" Isaac started to wander over in the direction of a large PC of some sort that was built into the wall opposite of the stairs. "I've never seen it around before..."

"Yikes. I don't want to even go near that." Rena pointed to the electric floor trip trap.

"Whoa! It's high-voltage power!" Isaac turned his head and widened his eyes at the sight of it. "There wasn't a barrier here like this before..." He was completely puzzled as he scratched his head. "Anyway, we can't go up unless we turn off the electricity. Oh! Right! That machine must be controlling the electrified floor!" Isaac ran over to the machine in-between the two small walls boxing it in.

Rena noticed it looked like he was almost completely boxed in if it weren't for that one open wall. The boy genius began hacking away at the computer, typing commands furiously on the keyboard.

"There's no question, this machine is it. It's probably the same as before." Isaac started talking to himself as he worked. "The program is quite clever, actually. It's well thought out. But, it's a piece of cake for me. How's... This?" Isaac slammed his fist down on a button, and the electric flooring was immediately shut off.

Rena laughed with relief now that she was finally able to end this once and for all. "Way to go, smartie!"

"We've got free access to the tower's top now." Isaac kept his back to Rena as he finished up working on something at the computer.

Rena's smile disappeared from her face, consumed by the grim truth of what she had to do as she walked up to the computer. Once there, she punched in a code into the card reader, then slid her master key through it; an electric green fence shot up in-between herself and Isaac, locking him in.

Isaac turned around sharply and glared at Rena in confusion. "Rena, what are you doing!?" He ran up to the electric fence and stopped quickly before he got shocked. "Let me out of here!"

"I'm sorry, Isaac..." Rena slowly started to walk backwards towards the staircases. "I can't lose anyone else."

Her heart throbbed at the thought of everyone. Their faces dancing behind her hollowed eyes. Her father's dead body slowly bleeding out in her arms. Mr. Kaplan and Ms. Claire risking everything they had just to hide her. Rhythimi's mascara-stained face from the ball. Melody with a gun pressed against her little innocent head. Isaac hunched over a computer, forced to create the final weapon. Wendy and Sven risking their lives high in Almia's storming skies. Ice warring with himself. The flashing images of Keith being blown off the roof by a storm of fire, uncertain if he was dead or alive.

A tear found its way falling from Rena's face as her choice of two stairs would lead to the same place. Her throat was tight and raw as she nodded down to the one who'd been by her side through it all. The one who knew all the risks since day one. The Mightyena didn't approve, but he looked off towards the way to signal he was ready.

And they both charged alone, yet together, up the right staircase to the inevitable finale of this twisted and insufferable mission.

Isaac helplessly stared at her intensely as he watched her go. "Rena, no! You'll get yourself killed!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Holy fucking hell this thing was so long 0-e... Aghhhhhh I want to beat my head bloody against a wall after writing all of this.

Okay, I know you're all pissed about the cliffhanger, amongst other things that happened in this chapter, but I'm working my ass off to write chapters 38-40 before next Thursday, so you won't be waiting for much longer.

Don't forget to thank Rose for helping with the editing while enduring her pneumonia! Poor kiddo...

Fan art: the three gems drawn by meeeeeee~!

Anyways... Read, comment, vote, and enjoy!