The young Ranger was not but really NOT awake at all this morning! He was even leaning on Kate, who was in no way disturbed. She was even glad that the boy trusted her enough to use her shoulder as a pillow.

- (Who's dozy, today?~)

- / Quiet Fischl..../

...The teenager could swear that this bird of misfortune took far too much pleasure in teasing him. As if it wasn't enough that he had barely registered the fact that the sleazy guy from the day before was binded up a smidgeon on the tight side in a corner and was being called "Ollie" for some obscure reason, already...

- Hello? Earth to Kellyn?

The teen jumped phenomenally at his name, and in his panic performed his salute, showing that he was, more or less, listening. The caller, Barlow, burst out laughing at the absurdity of the situation.

- Bouahaha! Calm down, Kellyn! There is no rush!

The brunet, understanding the situation he had gotten himself into, blushed furiously and hid his face with his hands. He had only one desire: to die in a hole. His partner gave him a gentle peck to reassure him.

- (Come on little Amethyst. He's just teasing you. It's alright...)

The teal-eyed one watched Fischl for a moment before sighing. He really had to take care of this pathological shyness...

- Humhum! Let's get serious for two minutes. Kellyn. I need you and Fischl to go get Prof Hastings. He returned from his trip, and is coming here to analyze this strange machine.

The brunet frowned before having an illumination. Was he the old man he had seen at the very end of his 1 Day Internship?

- Problem... He has an annoying tendency of getting lost in his haste. So can you go get him?

- "Roger!"

The duo then rushed outside, wasting no time, because the professor was still an elderly person, so if a somewhat fierce Pokemon fell on him.... It's better not to think about it.

As they approached the woods, someone ran into them, knocking the brunet on his back. The young Starly hovered near him, somewhat panicked.

- (Kell! Are you ok?!)

- / Argh...Nothing's broken! But, and the other man?/

The young Ranger quickly stood up and went to meet the one he had hit.

- Ouch...By Arceus, I'm sorry I ran into you!

The man, who was relatively old, accepted the hand offered to him by the teenager. He helped him up and checked that everything was fine.

- Wait a minute...I recognize you! You are one of the students from the last time! You are the mute one, right? Kellyn if I remember correctly?

The boy hesitated for a moment before picking it up. It was Prof Hastings.

- "It's me, Professor."

- So you became a Ranger in Vientown, huh? Well, I hope you like it. Otherwise, what are you doing here? Are you patrolling?

- "Our boss sent me to fetch you, Professor..."

The man with the cane sighed wearily.

- Barlow, huh? Frankly, they all worry a little too much. I hold it without problems! Proof in support, we collided, and I'm fine!

That, the brunet could not prove him wrong.

- Anyway....He wants you to escort me? So be it. Guide us, Kellyn.

- "Roger! Follow us!"

The duo then returned as quickly as they had left, but this time with a guest. Fischl let out a little cry to announce their presence.

- Oh! Already back? Why am I not surprised...?

- Hello to you too, Barlow. Let's skip the formalities and get straight to the main topic. Where is this famous machine?

And so, time passed. While the professor was analyzing the machine with Elaine, who was very happy to take this thing apart, the brunet had sat down on a table. He was slowly swinging his legs in the air while stroking the two-toned head of his bird. The voice of the old man ended up rising thoughtfully.

- Hum...I'm sure I've seen this machine before....But where was it again...? Oh yes! Pueltown! I saw a group of people carrying some of these through the city! Seeing how they were struggling, I thought they were mailboxes! But, it seems that this is not the case, at all!

- Oh oh....If what the professor says is true, the troubles will quickly come! Kate! Kellyn! You understand that it's an emergency mission! Go to Pueltown and destroy these machines as soon as possible!

- At your command chief!/"Roger!"

The chestnuthead took her cousin's hand and stormed out of the base, followed by her partner and Kellyn's.

- Ok. Let's get to Pueltown! Do you know where is it?

-...N-No....Rhythmi would know....Come...P-Pueltown...

- Rhythmi? One of your old classmates I guess. She's from there? I see...~ Anyway, Pueltown is to the north of Vientown Forest. Follow me!

The one with cobalt eyes then led the way, guiding the young Ranger through the woods which were struggling to heal from their wounds.

- By Arceus...This fire was a real disaster...Poor Pokemons...

-...Luana...Rage...

- She was mad? Doesn't even surprise me! Of all of us, she is the one the most attached to these woods...

Kate sighed softly, surveying her surroundings with a frown. She too, was seething with rage.

- More reason to go destroy those Devil's machines. Let's hurry!

The boy nodded and quickened his pace. It didn't take them long to reach the port city, which unfortunately was already under the control of the machines controlling the Pokémon.

- It's this noise that echoed in the Marine Cave, right? It's horrible. Even me is starting to have a headache....Sweet Arceus, I dare not imagine what Pokemons feel!

-...Me too...

- Well, let's get serious. I've already located one of our targets. If we start from the testimony of the professor, there is at least a second one. Let's find it, and reduce these things to a pile of scrap!

For a good 20 minutes, the foursome went back and forth, looking for both Pokemons and machines. Unfortunately, they discovered with horror that there were much more than 2 machines, and that in addition they had different "types"! This made Kate scream by the way...

During their mission, they saw extremely suspicious people in black who were being "chased" by a man named Brook. The latter had sworn to them that he was going to catch them and bind them up a smidgeon on the tight side, only to end up prisoner of a circle of hypnotized Pokemons trying to rescue Isaac's little sister, Melody... The two Rangers looked at each other, almost saying: "What did we just witness?", but despite that they had continued their mission all the same.

Thanks to the testimony of the little girl, the foursome then headed toward the port part of the city, with the firm intention of putting an end to this game of Persian and Pichu! Our protagonists hid behind one of the many containers present, in order to spy on their targets.

- Chief! There are two Rangers who are throwing a spanner in the works!

- Yeah! They destroyed the Gigaremo that we had placed all over the city!

- And what were you waiting for to stop them?

Silence...

- Ugh...You know what? Forget it. We gathered enough data with this experiment anyway. Consider yourself off the hook for now.

Meanwhile, the foursome was flabbergasted.

- Haha! Gigaremo, huh? I knew I heard that correctly!... On the other hand, I don't really like the word "experience"...

-...Bad....Must...Stop....

- Yeah, you're right. You're ready?

The two humans intertwined their arms in a symbol of complicity before going to confront the shady team.

- Hey! Can you tell us who you are, what this Gigaremo is for and this experience?

The brunet stared at his cousin flabbergasted, but the latter gave him a wink...There's no way such a stupid tactic would work, right...?

- Oh, it's very simple! We are Team Dim Sun! A criminal syndicate aiming to conquer the world. Gigaremo like the one here, are machines capable of controlling Pokemons at will! Today's experiment was to check if the new models work perfectly!

...They're dumb.

Kellyn was...stunned, to say the least. It was not possible that this tactic could work! And even less that someone was dumb enough to fall for it!

While the teenager came back to reality, the chestnut-haired girl was trying to hold back her giggles while the henchman was being heavily scolded by his superior. What was this witchcraft...?

- Raah! You don't have the light on every floor! Oh and damn it! Toxicroak, crush them!

- L-Let us help you, boss! Team Ratata go!

Even before the Ranger duo could react, each one of them got Pokemons to deal with. Kate was lucky enough to have the Ratatas, her cousin on the other hand...

- / Aaahhhh!!! Why me?!/

He had the Poison-Type Pokemon.

- (Remind me to buy you an exorcism for your birthday!)

- / You're not helping!/

As the boy had just drawn his Styler, the creature attacked, physical blows and puddles of poison coming one after another. The one with teal eyes felt that it was going to be complicated. Very complicated.

- (Do we use the usual tactic?)

- /...Stay away. His blows have quite a long range./

- (Leave it to me! And try to not get hit!)

- / I'll try./

The Starly flew away, circling rapidly around her opponent who automatically chased her. Meanwhile, Kellyn was analyzing the anthropomorphic toad, and when he spotted a flaw, he took advantage of it to advance his capture.

Except that the Pokemon possessed greater vigilance, so it often happened that the brunet ended up with a puddle of poison landing right in front of him.

- (Kell! Get away! You're gonna get yourself killed!)

- / I-I'm fine! I manage! Lure him to the other side!/

The bird complied reluctantly, provoking Toxicroak which became more and more feral. Luckily for the Ranger, the creature while trying to catch Fischl, ran into a container, getting confused in the process.

- /Lucky!/

So the boy started circling with phenomenal speed for a human, finally ending the fight. Like all the other Pokemons controlled by the Gigaremo, the toad left without further ado, quickly joined by the horde of Ratata who had attacked Kate.

- That's enough now! Let's retreat and take this Gigaremo! It's heavy, but the punishment will be even heavier!

- Aaahhh!! Sorry Chief!

The 4 henchmen seized the last machine before boarding a boat which immediately left once the minions and the admin on board.

- Hey! Come back here you cowards!...Argh! They escaped!

As the ship disappeared into the distance, and the cobalt-eyed one was fuming, Brook reappeared. The duo didn't have the time to understand anything that the man had jumped into the water, sandals between his teeth, swimming to catch up with the boat...

-...But...?

- I know. Brook is an idiot. He's not mean...Just stupid.

The chestnut-haired teen sighed wearily before turning toward her cousin who was massaging his wrist.

- So....How are you doing? This Toxicroak seemed to have given you a hard time!

-...Hurt...Arm....

- Ouch... I'm not surprised, but still, ouch...

Fischl, who had settled down on her perch, stared at the Ranger sternly but also worriedly.

- (Personally, I prefer that your arm hurts rather than you have no arm at all!)

- / I know...I'm sorry...I'll be more careful next time./

- (You better be!)

While the duo was bickering gently, the bridge keeper returned empty-handed to the port. As expected, he could not swim fast enough to catch a moving ship...

- I'm sorry I couldn't help... But the next time I see them, I swear to bind them up a smidgeon on the tight side!

- We know Brook, we know...

Kate looked exasperated.

- Anyway... We should go back Kell. It's been a long day, and who knows, maybe Ollie has spoken?

The brunet just shrugged.

- Yeah... It's unlikely, I know. But it doesn't matter for now. Let's go back. I'll take care of sending the report by Voicemail, don't worry!

---------------------------------

Kate: *to Kellyn* Ready to destroy some mailboxes?!

Kellyn: I'm almost sure we're about to commit a felony!...Count me in.

-----------------

Dim Sun Goon: *being Dim Sun Goon, AKA a total moron*

Kellyn: *staring at Kate while being completely flabbergasted*.....

Kate: Never underestimate the obvious strategy, dear cousin!