Chapter Text
“In the past, you’ve all heard about Dim Sun. I know you have. Nobody in Almia could have possibly avoided the news? I don’t know how all of you have reacted to it. I don’t know if you’ve been scared, or angry, or if you’ve just trusted the Rangers working to protect everyone. But I do know this. What Dim Sun is doing is wrong. And they need to be stopped. And the time to stop them is now.
“Right now Dim Sun is planning something. An attack, an assault, that will encompass all of Almia. One that they’ve been planning for a very long time. I know that sounds bad. Trust me, I don’t like how it sounds either. But you need to know that it won’t work. We here at the Ranger Union, and honestly every Ranger and even everyone affiliated with Pokémon Rangers across Almia, will stop it. But this isn’t something that can be done by any one group alone.
“Dim Sun’s plan will take place at Altru Tower, and it will involve every Pokémon around them. In order to stop this, we need to keep all Pokémon away from the tower. To those of you with Pokémon, keep them away. To those without, well, now is not the best time to start a journey.
“Dim Sun won’t win, I can promise you that. They will lose. But it will take work, and it will not be easy. Then again, since when has anything been easy? I promise you that Dim Sun will fall. The dawn will come and the sun, the true sun, will rise and shine over all of us.
“I know you’ve all been looking forward to the celebration tomorrow. To the bright future for Almia we’ve all been promised. And that’s good. Everyone should look forward to a bright future. But a bright future won’t just appear out of nowhere. It needs to start now. To truly create it we all need to come together right now, and all work to create a bright future for Almia. A bright future for all of us.”
[Pikachu Fan Club]
Cynthia: Did you guys catch Murph’s speech?
Lance: I did.
Leon: Had to track it down, but yeah
Alder: Murph’s really got a way with words.
Cynthia: He’s the PR guy, of course he does
Ash: I didn’t see any speech. Was it a good one?
Leon: Absolutely!
Diantha: It was, yes. Especially when you remember that he likely didn’t have much time to prepare it. If any
Cynthia: He was freestylin!
Lance: Let’s just hope it was enough.
Kate had known that Altru Tower was a tall building. The story had always gone that it was meant to shine over all of Almia. At first that sounded good. Great, even. But now that she knew the truth, now that she knew it was the Incredible Machine, the tower seemed way too big. Standing directly underneath the shadow it cast just made it seem even bigger.
Keith gently nudged Kate with his arm. “We’ve come a long way from wrangling Bidoof, haven’t we?”
“Yeah,” Kate agreed slowly. She looked over at her friend. “Although, when it comes down to it, we’re still doing the same thing, aren’t we? Capturing Pokémon and taking them somewhere safe.”
Keith hummed and crossed his arms thoughtfully. “I suppose we are.” He smirked mischievously. “Bet you I’ll capture more Pokémon than you do.”
“Oh, you are on! ”
On the ground between them, Buizel voiced his own agreement. Pachirisu just stood there and let her cheeks start sparking.
“Is this really the best time to be having a competition?” Steven asked.
“Better than freaking out and panicking,” Kate reasoned.
“Fair enough.”
“How many Pokémon do you think you’ll capture?” Keith asked. “I mean, you don’t have a styler so you’ll probably have to do it a different way, but still.”
Steven sighed and shook his head. “None.”
“None?”
“None. After what happened at the Union… well, I didn’t exactly bring any Pokémon with me. It was too dangerous.”
“That wasn’t your-” Kate began.
“I know,” Steven said quickly. “You were all very adamant about that. But it was still dangerous. Dim Sun… we can’t risk them doing that again. Not now. So I transferred them back to Hoenn for the time being. You two are here to capture the Pokémon and get them out. I’m here for support.”
“Moral support?” Keith asked.
Steven looked up at the tower. “Among other things,” he said after a moment. “I don’t know how useful I’ll be, not without my Pokémon, but I’ll do my best.”
Kate followed Steven’s gaze. “Although, there is one Pokémon of yours that’s in that tower.”
“Yeah,” Steven agreed solemnly. “Yeah. Dim Sun still has Metagross.”
“We’ll get it back,” Kate promised.
“Yeah!” Keith agreed. “Of course we will!”
“I hope so,” Steven agreed.
Kate nodded once and rushed forward. “Come on, we’ve got work to do!”
Wendy bent low over her Staraptor’s back, keeping one arm gently wrapped around her neck to hold on. Her other arm had a death grip on the Red Gem. In normal situations Wendy wouldn’t have needed to hold on to Staraptor at all. She’d certainly flown with her long enough to know how to keep her balance. But this was far from a normal situation. She and Sven were constantly being attacked by Shadow Pokémon, and that slowed down their progress significantly. Their flight to Altru Tower was only supposed to take twenty minutes, but in the end it would’ve almost been faster to walk there. Almost.
Part of Wendy felt bad for thinking it, but the Shadow Pokémon that Dim Sun sent at them now were almost nothing compared to Steven’s team. A hindrance and delay more than anything. Even so, they managed to get there in the end. They were almost to Altru Tower. Wendy was sure that she could see what could only be the Shadow Crystal. She and Sven were almost there. They just had to get closer. Just a little bit closer…
A series of antennae sticking out of the side of the tower lit up. The top line glowed with a blue light, the middle red, and the bottom yellow. The lights glowed and spread from antenna to antenna. Then they spread further out, forming three spheres around the tower. They started small, with the blue sphere in the middle and the yellow on the outside. They didn’t stay small. They started growing and growing, expanding out to further encapsulate the tower.
Wendy leaned her body to the side on Staraptor’s back. Staraptor got the message and flew to the side, narrowly avoiding touching the yellow sphere. Out of the corner of her eye Wendy could see that Sven wasn’t so lucky. His Staraptor managed to avoid the sphere, but in the movement his shoulder brushed against it. Sven hissed and jolted away. Wendy couldn’t see his shoulder much from this angle, but what little she could see was red and already starting to blister.
Wendy flicked open her styler. “Voicemail!” she shouted frantically. “Voicemail! Linda, can you hear me?!”
“I hear you,” Linda’s voice responded. “What’s going on?”
“We have a problem up here! The tower is protected by some kind of barrier! Sven and I can’t get the Gems close!”
A crowd of people stood in front of Altru Tower. For a brief moment during their approach, Kate prepared herself to fight her way past what had to be dozens of Dim Sun members. When they got closer they were able to hear that the crowd were all shouting.
“Who do you even think you are?”
“You can’t just fire all of us with no warning!”
“What gives you the right?”
“Does this have anything to do with that message from the Ranger Union?”
“They’re the employees of Altru,” Keith realized. “They must’ve been fired.”
“I guess Blake Hall didn’t want to keep them around,” Kate said. She tried to make her way through the crowd. With all the ex-employees milling around progress was slow. Even slower since she, Keith, and Steven were all trying to stay together.
“Yes,” Steven mused. He looked around the crowd, absently following Kate’s lead. “Yes! That’s great!”
“It -excuse me, sorry, we need to get through- it is?” Kate asked.
“Yes! Think about it! If they were fired, that means they had no idea what was going on! Not everyone in Altru was in on Dim Sun’s plans! That’s good no matter how you look at it!”
“That means there’s less people to fight than we thought,” Keith added. One of the crowd stepped on his foot. Keith helped and stumbled back, hopping on one foot for a bit.
Kate reached out to steady him. “And listen to what everyone’s saying. More people are starting to distrust Altru. That’s good, right?”
Steven let out an actual laugh of jubilation. “More than good! No matter how you look at it!”
Kate finally managed to lead the three of them through to the front of the crowd. From here they could see who the crowd kept yelling questions at. He was wearing a suit like some of the people in the crowd and had his hair slicked back with so much gel it was practically reflecting the light of the setting sun. He had a knapsack hanging over his shoulder.
“People!” he shouted in what was probably an attempt at a calming voice. He even waved his hands in a similar gesture. “People! I understand that you’re upset. I understand that this comes as a shock. But it’s out of my hands. This is just the way things have to be.”
“What does that even mean?!”
“You can’t just fire us as we walk out the door! Some of us have families to support!”
“People!” He started turning slightly to look out at the entire crowd. “I understand-”
Whatever it was that he understood, Kate didn’t catch it. When he looked around Kate had a perfect view of his eyes for only a single moment. That moment was enough. She knew who this was. It was the Dim Sun Admin who led the attack on Pueltown all those months ago.
“Leave this to me,” Kate told Keith and Steven. She stepped forward, walking up the steps. Pachirisu scrambled to follow along beside her. The crowd quieted at the sight of them. The Dim Sun Admin turned, an admonishment on his lips. It died when he recognized Kate. “You know, you could tell them the truth.” The crowd started rumbling and whispering.
“I- I don’t know what you mean,” the Dim Sun Admin stuttered. “Truth? What truth?”
“Yes, you do.”
The Dim Sun Admin’s shoulders slumped. Then he pulled them back up. “It was worth a shot.” He pulled a Miniremo out of his knapsack. The crowd gasped and then a hush fell over them all. The Dim Sun Admin smirked as he set up his Miniremo. “You have no idea how long I’ve been looking forward to this.”
Kate held out the arm with her styler. “I have a few ideas.”
The Dim Sun Admin cracked his knuckles and started clicking away at the keys of his Miniremo. A crash echoed down from a few floors above them. A rain of glass shards fell to the ground between Kate and the Dim Sun Admin. When the glass settled a Pokémon landed on the ground. Its fur was varying shades of purple. It had two strips of extra long fur on its arms. The Shadow Pokémon shook both arms. The fur snapped against the ground, cracking like a whip.
A Shadow Mienshao.
The Shadow Mienshao swung its arms again, swinging one strip of fur at Kate and the other at Pachirisu. When the fur wrapped around nothing the Shadow Mienshao yanked them back and jumped to the side, dodging Kate’s incoming capture disc. Kate didn’t bother to try to guide it after the Shadow Mienshao. It was already obvious that the Shadow Pokémon could move too fast for the capture disc to catch like that. She had to outmaneuver it.
The Shadow Mienshao wrapped its fur around one of the columns surrounding the tower. It jumped up and yanked on the column. The Shadow Mienshao swung around the column, moving so fast it was almost a purple blur. It released the column, revealing a line of indents in the column where its fur had been wrapped.
The Shadow Mienshao zipped through the air, aiming right at Kate with one of its legs outstretched. Kate dodged to the side and threw out her capture disc. She started looping it around in circles in the air, right around where the Shadow Mienshao was about to be. The Shadow Mienshao lashed its fur down, stabbing it into the ground. Its body swung down rapidly, crashing into the cement.
Almost before the crash finished, the Shadow Mienshao flipped back onto its feet. Patches of its fur were tangled and in complete disarray, yet the Shadow Mienshao didn’t look bothered. It immediately threw out another spike of fur. Kate dodged to the side, letting the fur pass by harmlessly.
“Pachirisu!”
Kate’s Partner immediately unleashed a blast of electricity at the Shadow Mienshao. It jumped up again, dodging the attack easily. Its fur pierced the ground to the side of the attack. The Shadow Mienshao pulled against the ground, sending it zipping to the side. This time it landed on its feet and didn’t crash. As soon as it touched down it spun around and sent another spike of fur at Kate. She dodged it again, stumbling back against one of the columns.
“Pachirisu.”
Another blast of electricity hurtled toward the Shadow Mienshao. It jumped over the attack and used its fur to pull itself to the ground safely out of the way. It spun around and flung its fur at Kate. She dodged to the side. The Shadow Mienshao’s fur stabbed through the column.
“Pachirisu, now!”
Pachirisu sent one final attack at the Shadow Mienshao. It tried to vault over it. Its fur caught on the column. It barely left the ground before it was forced back down to its original spot. It landed and was immediately paralyzed by Pachirisu’s attack. A few loops from Kate’s styler had the Mienshao captured and the Dim Sun Admin’s Miniremo exploding.
Mienshao huffed and carefully pulled her fur free of the column. She held both strips of fur up and started to gently lick them, smoothing the ruffled fur. Kate turned her attention to the Dim Sun Admin. “Anything to say for yourself?”
The Dim Sun Admin turned and ran away. He barely made it three steps before a whip of purple fur wrapped around his body. Mienshao yanked him back and tightened her fur around the Dim Sun Admin, restricting his movements completely. The Dim Sun Admin tried to speak, but the fur wrapped around his mouth.
“Think you could keep him here until some other Rangers arrive?” Kate asked.
Mienshao tilted her head and looked at the Dim Sun Admin. She yanked her arm to the side, pulling the Dim Sun Admin over. He had to awkwardly hop to avoid falling over. Mienshao snorted and pushed him back, lifting him up to spin him over the ground. She looked back at Kate and nodded.
“Thanks.” Kate nodded and started to run into Altru Tower. Steven followed her. Keith took a moment to pat Mienshao on the head and then he too followed. The doors slid open for them. They ran into the building, slowing to a stop in the lobby. A dozen Dim Sun members stood with their backs to the three of them, all facing an admin in front of them. The admin’s back was also turned while they wrote on a whiteboard.
They slipped to the side and hid behind a desk. The admin turned around to face the Dim Sun members. “Does everyone understand the plan?” she asked, tapping the whiteboard with her marker. “The boss says Rangers will be attempting to invade us soon. Our job is to make sure they don’t even get into the lobby. Barricade the doors. Once you do, take up positions at each window with your Miniremo ready and waiting. Any questions? No? Break.”
The Dim Sun members split up and raced to grab anything they could around the lobby. Some of them moved a few desks over to the doors, others grabbed chairs, a couple picked up the potted plants scattered around the room, and one even found a barrel somewhere. Keith stood up and grabbed a printer off the desk. He held it out to a Dim Sun member as he ran up to them.
“Thanks!” the Dim Sun member said, taking the printer.
“You’re welcome,” Keith said as the Dim Sun member turned his back.
The Dim Sun member jogged over to the barricade. He was halfway there when he stumbled to a stop. The printer slipped out of his hands. He whirled around again as the printer crashed on the floor. “Ranger!” the Dim Sun member shouted. His eyes slid past Keith and focused on Kate. “Rangers!” He looked at Steven. “Rangers with a guy in a ruffled suit!” The rest of the Dim Sun members turned to face the three of them.
Kate’s styler started beeping from a voicemail. “Keith, can you take care of this one?”
“Happy to.” Keith stepped forward. He flicked his wrist up. The capture disc slipped out of his styler. He twisted his hand around and caught the disc.
Kate answered the voicemail. “Kate Hitomi here.”
“Kate!”
“Rhythmi. What’s going on? Is everything okay?”
“I’ve patched you through to Wendy and Linda.” Kate froze. Rhythmi almost never evaded answering questions like that. She turned her back on Keith and the Dim Sun members and held her styler closer.
“What’s going on?”
“Wendy, tell Kate what you told us.”
“We can’t get close to the Shadow Crystal,” Wendy reported. “There’s some kind of barrier around the top of the tower.”
“Three!” Sven chimed in from the background.
“Or three barriers,” Wendy amended. “We can’t get through them. We can’t get the Gems to the Shadow Crystal.”
“Okay,” Kate said slowly.
“Not okay!” Linda shouted.
“Not okay,” Kate repeated. “Not okay. What can we do about this?”
“The machines creating the barriers are on the tower,” Wendy said. “There has to be some way to turn them off.”
“I’ve got Wendy and Sven in a holding pattern,” Linda added. “They should be able to hold it until midnight.”
“One in the morning if the attacks let up.”
“The Incredible Machine doesn’t turn on until midnight,” Rhythmi said. “We still have a few hours to work with. I know it’s a lot, but you think you and Keith can figure out how to turn those barriers off?”
“Of course we can,” Kate promised.
“Good. Keep us updated on everything that happens, you hear me?”
“You better do the same.”
Kate’s styler clicked. She turned around to see the last of the Miniremos explode. Keith’s capture disc zipped back to him. He caught it and flicked it into his styler. “Well, now that that’s out of the way, you gonna let me and my friends pass?” Keith asked. The Dim Sun members all took a step back. Some of them started muttering amongst themselves.
The admin stepped forward. “What are you fools doing?” she demanded. “We outnumber them! Attack! Keep them from getting any farther!”
Most of the Dim Sun members ran toward the three of them. The only ones to stay back were the admin and a girl holding a vase with the bouquet of flowers still inside of it. Keith, who was closest to the Dim Sun members, was the first to be attacked. Two of them grabbed his arms and held them out to his sides, restraining him completely.
Another group of Dim Sun members targeted Kate. She yelped and stumbled back, barely managing to stay out of their reach. She could feel the fingers of one member brush her shoulder. With her out of the way the Dim Sun members crashed into each other and fell to the ground. Kate took a few more steps back. She bumped against something. A Dim Sun member had snuck up on her from behind. She wrapped her arms around Kate’s shoulders and locked her hand around Kate’s neck, trapping her in a full nelson.
Pachirisu’s cheeks started crackling with electricity. The Dim Sun member restraining Kate spun her around, holding Kate between herself and Pachirisu. Pachirisu slumped and let the electricity die out.
The largest group targeted Steven. He held out a little longer than Keith and Kate did. He blocked a few of the Dim Sun members and even elbowed one in the stomach hard enough to knock him to the ground instead. But in the end there were just too many. Like with Keith the Dim Sun members were able to grab his arms and restrain him. The Dim Sun member on the ground dove at Steven and wrapped his arms and legs around Steven’s legs, keeping him completely immobile.
Buizel snarled and jumped at the Dim Sun members restraining Keith. Another member’s hand darted forward and grabbed Buizel’s tails. He yanked Buizel back and held the Pokémon upside down by the tails. Buizel snarled and thrashed around, firing bubbles at random.
“Let him go!” Keith shouted, pulling at the Dim Sun members holding him in place. Neither gave any ground. They just pulled on his arms, making Keith cry out in pain.
Kate thrashed around in the Dim Sun member’s hold. “Let me go!” she snapped.
“No,” the Dim Sun member said. Kate growled and started stomping her feet, trying to find the Dim Sun member’s foot.
The sound of metal straining against metal echoed through the lobby. The Dim Sun members who could started to look around. Even the admin and the girl holding the vase joined in. Kate looked around the room as best she could. She couldn’t track down where the sound came from.
It sounded again. This time it was accompanied by the sounds of scraping. The scraping was caused by the barricade in front of the door sliding along the floor a few inches. Kate watched the doors shake and rattle in the frame, pushing open against the barricade and sliding it away. It happened again and again. Each time the doors made a bit more progress in moving the barricade away. Finally the barricade moved far enough for the doors to remain propped open.
A voice echoed into the lobby.
“Taaarget…”
Kate gasped as she recognized the voice. Pachirisu clearly did too. She perked up and scampered to the side, getting out of the way.
“ Cleaaar!!! ” The doors sprang open, shoving the barricade out of the way and sending everything making it up crashing to the floor. A large figure ran into the lobby, his arms held up in front of his body. He slowed to a stop and lowered his arms, taking in the sight around the lobby. It was Barlow.
Barlow stood there for a moment, his shoulders heaving as he caught his breath. One of the Dim Sun members who wasn’t helping restrain anyone tried to jump Barlow. Barlow grabbed the Dim Sun member’s face in one hand. He spun him around and pulled a pair of cuffs from his belt. He looped one cuff around the Dim Sun member’s wrist. One yank on the cuffs had his wrist pulled behind him, close enough to the other wrist for Barlow to cuff that one too.
“Kate!” Barlow called out. “Glad to see you!”
“Good to see you too,” Kate responded. The Dim Sun member holding her tightened her grip. Kate grunted.
“Looks like we came here just in the nick of time.”
“We?” Keith echoed.
Barlow nodded and glanced over his shoulder. Through the still open door another Ranger ran in. Crawford pulled a pair of cuffs from his own belt. A Dim Sun member ran to reach him. Barlow idly pushed the Dim Sun member he had cuffed into the other’s path. He rushed to catch him, wrapping his arms around him. As soon as he did Crawford slapped his cuffs around the Dim Sun member’s wrists, effectively locking him to the other one.
Behind Kate and the Dim Sun member restraining her a window crashed in. A Ranger swung into the lobby and ran for them. He pulled cuffs off his belt and dropped to the ground. He slid past them, flicking one of the cuffs around the Dim Sun member’s ankle. He kept sliding and pulled her after him. She cried out and dropped Kate. She fell to the floor, nearly knocking Kate off her feet. If Kate hadn’t jumped over her when she did she would have fallen. The Ranger grabbed the Dim Sun member’s arm and yanked it down, cuffing her wrist to her ankle. He looked up with a wild smile.
“Hey, Miss Kate! How you doing?”
Kate blinked. “Jack?”
“Ah, you remember me! Good!” Jack jumped to his feet. “Sorry, I can’t stay and talk.” He waved goodbye as he turned and rushed at the admin.
One of the Dim Sun members holding Keith whimpered and dropped his arm. “I’m outta here!” he shouted. He turned and sprinted past Barlow and Crawford, who were distracted with rescuing Steven. He almost made it to the doors when another figure stepped in. She leaned against the door and crossed her arms. Luana lifted two fingers in a wave. “Sup, Steve? How’s that finger doing?”
Steve whimpered and backed away. Luana sighed and kicked off the door. Steve didn’t fight back as she cuffed him. He just whimpered and kept his hands curled into fists.
Barlow, Crawford, Luana, and Jack made quick work of the other Dim Sun members. Soon all of them were cuffed and lined up against the side wall. Crawford, Luana, and Jack kept them in line while Barlow turned to Kate, Keith, and Steven.
“Are you three okay?”
“We’re good,” Steven said. “Thank you for helping us.”
“Yeah, thanks for the save!” Keith agreed.
Barlow shook his head. “Don’t thank me. Thank that friend of yours, Rhythmi. She reached out to Judy and had her redirect us here.”
“Pretty sure we can thank you as well,” Kate muttered.
Barlow shrugged. “Don’t need to.” He turned back to the Dim Sun members. “You three get going up the tower. We’ll take care of these grunts.”
“Right,” Kate agreed. She glanced at the Dim Sun members. “Actually, mind if I say a few words to them? I just got some new information about the mission.”
“Please, go for it.”
Kate nodded and looked around the defeated Dim Sun members. “Okay. My friends and I need to get to the controls for that barrier around the building. Any of you willing to lead us there? Or even just tell us what floor it’s on?”
After a moment the Dim Sun member with the vase lifted her hands. She still had the vase clutched in her hands, even with her cuffs. “I… I can take you,” she said softly. She flinched at the glares half of the other Dim Sun members shot her. One of them even tried to grab her and yank her away. Before he could Crawford grabbed his wrist, squeezing it and pulling his hand away from the girl’s arm. She stood up. Jack and Luana stepped aside to let her approach Kate, Keith, and Steven.
The Dim Sun member slowly led the three of them to the elevator. She opened it and stood by a panel in the wall. It didn’t have any buttons on it. Just a speaker and a microphone in the middle of a rectangle embedded into the surrounding metal wall.
“It’s voice activated,” the Dim Sun member explained, gesturing to the microphone with her cuffed hands and the vase. “You just have to say the password and it’ll take you to your floor.”
“What’s the password?” Keith asked.
“It’s different for each employee.”
“And that’s the whole system?” Steven asked, scowling at the panel.
“Y-yeah,” the Dim Sun member stuttered.
Steven scoffed and shook his head.
“Could you say your password, then?” Kate asked.
The Dim Sun member gulped and nodded. She turned to face the panel properly. She held the vase of flowers close to her body, squeezing it tightly for comfort. The speaker crackled to life. “WELCOME ABOARD. PLEASE ENTER-” Without warning, she swung the vase out, slamming it against the microphone. The vase shattered on impact. Shards of the vase clinked to the ground, followed by the flowers. The Dim Sun member ran out of the open elevator doors, abandoning the three of them with the broken controls.
Keith growled. “That little…” His body jolted in place, as if he was about to follow her, then stopped when Luana grabbed her. He took a deep breath. “Think there’s a staircase?”
Steven shook his head. “There isn’t. I scoped out the lobby during that whole thing.”
“So what do we do?” Kate asked. “How are we supposed to get up there?”
Steven hummed and crouched down in front of the control panel. He pulled a multi tool from his pocket. He unfolded a small screwdriver from the multi tool and used it to pry the casing of the control panel off. It fell to the ground, leaving the speaker and microphone there, now just part of a mess of wires.
“My father may be a businessman and president of Devon on paper, but his true passion will always be inventing,” Steven said. He gently pulled the microphone out of its slot, a number of the wires attached to it trailing out after it. “And he has a fondness for a lab in the garage. Always has. It drove my mom crazy.”
Steven unfolded his multi tool properly into a pair of pliers. A small section of the pliers were thin and sharp, like a set of wire cutters. He cut the wires attached to the microphone. He tossed the broken microphone away. “Growing up I would join him in his labs, helping him with what I could.”
Steven reached into his pocket again and pulled out his phone and a battery pack. He cut the charging cable from the battery pack and threw the pack itself to the side with the microphone. He started peeling a bit of the insulation from both the charging cable and the wires that had been attached to the microphone.
“I didn’t understand a lot of the work. Still don’t.” Steven pressed the wires to the cable, twisting the exposed wiring together. “And while I may not be as smart as my father, and I’m definitely not as smart as Isaac…” Steven plugged the charging cable into his phone.
The speaker crackled to life. “WELCOME ABOARD. PLEASE ENTER YOUR PASSWORD. WHEN YOU HAVE ENTERED YOUR PASSWORD YOU WILL BE TAKEN TO YOUR WORK FLOOR.”
“I’ve picked up a few things,” Steven finished.
“Yes!” Keith shouted, pumping his fists happily. “Alright, say the password and let’s get going!”
Steven blinked and stared blankly at Keith. Kate cleared her throat. “Uh, Keith?”
“We don’t know the password, do we?”
“We don’t.”
“Okay. Okay okay okay.”
“Okay?” Steven asked.
“Okay. Isaac had access to the building. He must have a password. Let’s just get into an Isaac state of mind. Mushroom?”
“Of course not,” Kate said. “He loved working here. Maybe he just went with Altru?”
“I don’t think that would’ve been allowed,” Steven piped up.
“Right.” Keith crossed his arms and frowned. “Kincaid?”
Kate took a moment to think about it before shaking her head. “I… I’m not convinced. What about Incredible Machine?”
“No, Isaac wouldn’t have the project be his password.” Keith tilted his head. “Hey, what about Melody? Isn’t that the password he put on that drive he gave us?”
“Melody.” Kate nodded decisively. “Yes. Melody.”
Steven nodded and spoke into his phone’s microphone. “Melody.”
The speaker crackled. “PASSWORD ACCEPTED. WELCOME, PROFESSOR ISAAC. WE WILL STOP ON FLOOR NINE.” The elevator doors slid shut and the box started going up.
Keith chuckled and shook his head fondly. “That Isaac… he really does adore Melody. He’s a good guy to care so much about his sister.”
[Pikachu Fan Club]
Kate: Settle an argument for us. If a couple Operators directed a group of Rangers to where we were and they rescued us, would we thank the Rangers, the Operators, or both?
Leon: Why exactly do you ask?
Ash: I’d just thank everyone myself
Diantha: This… is this hypothetical?
Alder: Did you ask the Operators to send in backup or did they take the initiative themselves?
Cynthia: Does that matter?
Alder: Yes.
Ash: Does it?
Kate: They took initiative.
Alder: Thank them first and then the Rangers second. They should get top billing.
Leon: Shouldn’t Operators always get top billing?
Alder: That’s a good rule of thumb.
Diantha: Ahem!
Diantha: Kate. What happened? What’s going on?
Kate: Steven explained Operation Brighton to you earlier, right?
Lance: Yes, he did.
Ash: The one where you rescue all the Pokémon from the tower and let it break?
Kate: That’s the one. We were just inside the tower when Dim Sun attacked us. They outnumbered us and were able to restrain the three of us. If Rhythmi and Judy hadn’t gotten the Vientown Rangers to join us, I’m not sure how we would’ve escaped.
Diantha: You
Diantha: Yes, thank the Operators
Lance: Why are you even asking us this?
Leon: Yeah, shouldn’t you be focused on Operation Brighton?
Kate: We are. A Dim Sun member broke the elevator, Steven fixed it, then halfway up another member broke it again. This time instead of fixing it we just climbed out and are climbing up the tower through the maintenance tunnels. There’s quite a few Dim Sun members here, and you know they all have pretty much the same thing to say? Blah blah blah Dim Sun wins yada yada Ranger equals dumb and so on. It’s getting boring.
Lance: Boring.
Diantha: Boring
Ash: Yeah, I know what you mean. Still, it’s nice to let them get through their motto
Cynthia: Boring?
Leon: I mean, I guess it is kinda repetitive
Kate: Yeah, Keith and I are swapping off who handles each Dim Sun member and we’re just kinda going through the motions right now. It’s…
Kate: I really don’t want to be going through the motions right now. It leaves my mind time to wander, and… well, there’s a lot of ways this could go wrong.
Lance: Yes, I suppose there are.
Alder: Ah, I see.
Cynthia: Fair
Ash: You’re trying to distract yourself?
Kate: More or less.
Leon: Valid
Diantha: You say Rhythmi and Judy are the ones who orchestrated your rescue?
“Yeah,” Kate said as she finished capturing a Mamoswine. Once she did the Pokémon blinked and looked around the maintenance tunnels for a moment. It turned and ran back through the hole in the wall it made when it was first summoned. “I don’t think they knew it would be a rescue, but Rhythmi reached out to Judy who sent the team to join us.”
Diantha: Then in that case, I agree with Alder. Thank them first, but definitely thank the others too
Cynthia: Thank everyone!!!
“I tried,” Kate pointed out.
“Hey,” Keith said. “ We tried.”
“Keith says we tried.”
Steven crouched down beside a vent and started to pull the cover off the wall. “This vent should run right over the ninth floor. That’s apparently where Isaac works, so once we find an exit we can find and rescue him and Melody.”
“And then with Melody safe Isaac can help us take down that barrier,” Keith said, moving to the other side of the vent to help Steven.
“That’s the plan,” Steven agreed.
Lance: What do you mean when you say you tried? Did you get interrupted?
“No, we didn’t,” Kate said quietly. “Rhythmi and Judy told us to thank the Vientown Rangers, and they told us to thank Rhythmi and Judy.”
The metal of the grate cover squeaked and ground against the vent itself. It popped out of the wall. Steven and Keith dropped it to the ground. None of them needed to speak to coordinate their movements. Keith walked into the vent first. He didn’t have to crawl or even hunch over. The vents were large enough that the three of them could probably walk through them all side by side with room to spare. They didn’t, though. Keith and Buizel stayed at the front, Steven took up the position in the middle, and Kate brought up the rear with Pachirisu.
Leon: Everyone was just saying to thank the other
Cynthia: A thank circle, if you will
Ash: Can I still say just thank everyone? Cause I think everyone needs to be thanked
Alder: Especially once this is over.
Lance: That is very true.
Diantha: Yeah, you’re not wrong
Ash: What about Steven? Does he agree?
“I dunno. Hey, Steven! Do you agree?”
“What?” Steven asked.
“Yes or no, do you agree?”
Steven blinked. “Uh… n-yes,” he said, quickly pivoting his words when he saw the look on Kate’s face. “Yes. I agree.”
“He says yes.”
Cynthia: Good
Keith stopped walking without giving any warning. Steven nearly bumped into him. As a result Kate nearly bumped into Steven. Poor Pachirisu actually did bump into Buizel. Keith held up one hand, indicating for everyone to remain silent. He moved to the side of the vent and pressed himself against the wall. He shuffled to the side, avoiding stepping on the grate in the floor that was now visible. Keith crouched down and looked through the grate. After a minute he breathed a sigh of relief.
“Looks like this lets out into a storage room. Only one person inside. Looks like an Altru worker and not a member of Dim Sun. He’s asleep, so as long as we stay quiet we can get through.”
“Sounds good,” Steven said, moving to another side of the grate. Once they’d pulled it free, they started pushing it back. Kate grabbed one end while Keith let go of the grate. She and Steven pushed it out of the way.
Keith dropped through first. He landed on the ground with a soft thump. The sound of the sleeping scientist’s grumbling echoes back up to the vents, but he didn’t wake. Steven was next. He stumbled on the landing, but still the scientist didn’t wake. Kate lowered herself through the vent and landed beside Keith and Steven. Finally Buizel and Pachirisu hopped down, landing in the arms of their Rangers.
Careful not to wake the sleeping scientist, the group left the storage room and started to explore the floor. It was strangely barren. No Dim Sun members were roaming the halls. It had a few more storage rooms and labs, but all the lights in them were off. The only rooms that weren’t like that were one of the bathrooms and a room that had what looked like a Gurdurr’s girder blocking the door.
After a bit more exploring they ran across an open doorway leading to some stairs. “Good,” Keith said, staring at the doorway. “When we get Isaac and turn off that barrier, we have a way to keep going up.” He took a step closer to the doorway. A light above it turned on. Bars of purple energy flashed through the doorway, blocking the entrance.
“Another barrier?” Kate asked.
“Looks like,” Steven said. He carefully approached and started examining the edge of the doorway, careful not to touch the bars of energy. “I can’t see a control panel or way to turn it off from here.”
“There’s gotta be something. Some kind of failsafe or weakness.”
“An emergency shutoff, maybe,” Steven mused. “Something.”
Kate and Steven were so focused on the door that neither noticed Keith wandering a little further down the hall. Kate did notice Pachirisu tugging on her leg. She looked down at her Partner, who pointed down the hall. Keith stood halfway down the hall, staring intently at the wall. Kate looked around to make sure no one was approaching then jogged over. When she got closer, she saw what Keith was staring at. A section of the wall was a different color, had four bright red lights in it, and large cracks going in a square around it.
Keith didn’t look at Kate as she approached, though he did speak. “Is it just me, or does this look like a really big and really important door?”
“It’s not just you,” Kate agreed. “It’s definitely a door.”
“Any idea what’s on the other side?”
“This is the floor Isaac worked on…”
“Dim Sun wouldn’t want to risk him escaping again.”
“He could be on the other side.”
“Even if he’s not, we need to get in there anyway. We have to make sure this building is completely clear.”
“So we need to get inside.”
Keith nodded and sighed. “Of course, the door won’t just open for us, I already tried that,” he grumbled. “But there’s gotta be some way to get in there! Doors were meant to be opened!”
Kate looked back at Steven. He was still working on the other door, trying to drop the barrier. “We have time to figure it out.”
“Not enough,” Keith said. He turned to face Kate, looking at her with a hard stare. “You know what we have to do.”
“Don’t say it,” Kate said, her voice just as hard. “You know we-”
“Have to split up. We’re on a time limit here. This building turns on at midnight.”
Kate’s shoulders slumped and she averted her gaze. “I hate that I can’t argue,” she muttered. “When one of us figures out how to open this door, voicemail the other. No running in alone.”
“Obviously,” Keith agreed. He flicked his hand. The capture disc popped out of his styler and fell into his hand. “See you when we go in there.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
She and Keith both turned and started going in opposite directions. Kate stopped briefly to tell Steven what they were doing. He just nodded once, not looking away from the door’s barrier.
Kate checked all the labs and closets and offices she ran past. Most of them were completely empty. One or two had Pokémon inside, but they were easy enough to herd away. She paused long enough to open a window for a Starly to fly out of and coaxed a Kirlia into teleporting away with a small group of Pokémon she’d seen roaming the halls. After Kirlia left she rounded another corner and very nearly ran into an Electabuzz.
The Electabuzz looked at Kate warily, his fists crackling with electricity. Kate flicked her wrist and sent the capture disc at Electabuzz. He wound up his arm to punch it, but by the time he’d charged up a thunderpunch the styler had looped around him enough times to capture him. Electabuzz grumbled and crossed his arms. Kate kept going through the halls, Electabuzz joining her.
Kate stumbled into another storage room and started looking around. She could barely see anything. The lights were turned off and there were no windows. She used the light flooding in from the hallway to look along the wall for a lightswitch. She found what looked like it had once been a lightswitch, though it was caved in and the plastic cover around it was broken and scattered along the ground. Also on the ground rested a hammer. It didn’t feel right to Kate.
Kate turned back to Electabuzz. “Can you light up the room?”
Electabuzz scoffed and stepped forward, pushing aside random objects as he did. He stopped in the middle of the room and let loose a burst of electricity. Arcs of electricity sparked off his body. Instead of dissipating they floated in the air, lighting the room up completely.
On the other side of the storage room a Dim Sun member stood. He was furiously rubbing his eyes, disoriented from the bright light. The Dim Sun member had a Miniremo set up in front of him. On either side stood a Shadow Pokémon. A Shadow Espeon and a Shadow Umbreon. He didn’t have to do anything with his Miniremo. As soon as the Shadow Pokémon took notice of Kate, they attacked.
They ran in a curve, moving to attack Kate from opposite sides. She couldn’t even attempt to capture one of them. If she tried to capture the Shadow Espeon then sure, it wouldn’t be able to get closer, but the Shadow Umbreon would be able to hit her in the back. Kate dodged the attacks from both. The two Shadow Pokémon ran past each other and swapped sides. They didn’t stop or even change strategies. They just curved around to attack Kate from both sides again. And a third time after that.
Kate chanced a glance at the Dim Sun member again. He was still rubbing his eyes and not doing anything to his Miniremo. The Shadow Pokémon weren’t being actively controlled right now, they just kept repeating whatever the current command was. Though it clearly wouldn’t last long. It didn’t need to.
Kate waited until the two Shadow Pokémon were just about to hit her and jumped out of the way. “Pachirisu!” A bolt of lightning splashed over them both, paralyzing them right next to each other. It only took a few seconds and a few more loops to capture them.
The Dim Sun member’s eyes finally adjusted right as his Miniremo exploded. He blinked and stared at Kate through a haze of smoke. “Uh… I got fired this morning, so you can leave me alone?” he said weakly.
Kate scoffed. “Nice try.” She approached the Dim Sun member. He yelped and stumbled back, leaning against the wall. He held his arms in front of his face defensively. He had a remote of some kind held in one of his hands. Kate moved closer to him. She plucked the remote from his hand. The Dim Sun member gulped but didn’t protest. “What is this?”
“T-TV remote,” he stuttered. “I wanted to watch the big game.”
“Tell me what this is.”
“Okay!” the Dim Sun member shouted. “Okay. It’s one of the remotes to the containment lab.”
“Containment lab. That’s what’s behind that big door down the hall?”
The Dim Sun member nodded. “Yes! Yes, that’s it! That remote is one of the ones needed to open the door!”
A flash of four red lights flew across Kate’s vision. “There’s four remotes total?” The Dim Sun member just nodded. Kate stared at him for a moment longer and then turned away. She marched out of the room, Electabuzz, Espeon, and Umbreon following her. Kate was just about to send a voicemail to Keith when her styler started buzzing.
“Four remotes?” Kate guessed as she answered it.
“Got it in one,” Keith agreed. “I found a Dim Sun goon hiding in the bathroom. He gave me his. You?”
“Dark storage room. So that means we have two of the remotes?”
“Don’t look at me, you know my math is terrible.”
“We have two,” Kate reiterated. “You find another and go to the door to wait. I’ll do the same.”
Keith didn’t actually respond. There was just a moment of silence in which Kate could imagine him nodding and then the click of him hanging up. Kate closed her styler and continued down the hall, looking for more Pokémon to help evacuate and a Dim Sun member with a remote.
Espeon knew teleport, so by the time Kate found the next Dim Sun member all the Pokémon she’d found and captured were long gone. It was just her and Pachirisu who found the Dim Sun member hiding out in what looked like a library. She was sitting on a desk chair against the back wall. There was a Miniremo set up in the corner. When they walked in, the Dim Sun member didn’t look away from her book.
“Do you have-”
Kate cut herself off when the Dim Sun member held up one finger. She rolled her eyes and started approaching the Dim Sun member, looking around for a remote. The Dim Sun member sighed and folded the corner of her page. She snapped her book shut and looked up at Kate.
“Can I help you?” the Dim Sun member asked.
“Remote,” Kate said, crossing her arms.
The Dim Sun member rolled her eyes. She pulled a remote from the sleeve of her uniform. “This remote?”
Kate didn’t answer verbally. She just reached out to take the remote. The Dim Sun member kicked the bookcase and sent her chair rolling away. When the chair rolled past the Miniremo the Dim Sun member stood up. Her chair kept rolling but she stayed at her Miniremo. She tucked the remote into her sleeve and her book under her arm. She pressed a single key on her Miniremo.
Something pulled on the back of Kate’s jacket. She fell back, off balance for a moment. At the same time something pressed down on her shoulders. It was too much for Kate. She lost her balance completely and fell to the ground. Kate instinctively rolled to the side, intent on standing up again. Something jabbed against her side, pushing her over again. Except that something shouldn’t have done that. She’d been looking right in the direction the jab had come from. She hadn’t seen anything. That meant she was most likely dealing with a ghost type.
Kate scrambled to her feet again. Even if it was invisible and intangible, there had to be a trace of the Shadow Pokémon. At the very least one part of it needed to be corporeal enough to push her down. She just had to find that one part. She couldn’t see anything, no matter how hard she looked. Not that Kate had expected it to be that easy. With ghost types there was usually only one surefire way to figure out where they were. Wait for them to attack.
Something pushed against the back of Kate’s legs. She immediately jumped forward and whirled around. She threw out the capture disc before she even found what she was looking for. It wasn’t until it clattered across the floor that she saw it. Two small gray flaps of what almost looked like fabric were just floating there.
Kate looped the capture disc around the flaps in a wide circle. It never crashed against anything, so she took that to mean that the Shadow Pokémon was relatively small. Kate was still forming loops around it when something changed. The strips of fabric stiffened and then relaxed. Slowly, ever so slowly, the air started to shift and glow as a Pokémon became more and more visible. It was transparent and barely visible at first, but it was there. Soon it was visible enough for Kate to figure out what it was. A Banette.
Banette looked up at Kate, her head tilted in confusion. Kate slowly stepped forward. She was about to crouch down when something slapped against her side, knocking her over. Kate yelped and fell down. She rolled over and saw the Dim Sun member was still standing beside her Miniremo. She had her book open in one hand and the other was typing away at the keyboard of the very much intact Miniremo.
There was another Shadow Pokémon.
Kate looked around again. There were no obvious signs of where it was. Even when it knocked against her from behind, there was no sign that it had been there. Nor was there any the next time. Kate was almost stuck with just swinging the capture disc wildly around the room in the hopes of getting lucky, and while that could work, it would take too much time. If this were the only Shadow Pokémon she would have been stuck with that.
Fortunately, it wasn’t.
Fortunately, she wasn’t.
Fortunately, Kate had access to one of the ghost type’s greatest weaknesses.
Banette was still in the room with them. In fact, she hadn’t moved at all from her original spot. It was creepy, but Kate couldn’t care about that right now. “Banette! Can you find the other Pokémon?”
Banette stared at Kate for a long time. Long enough that the other Shadow Pokémon attacked Kate three times. Kate was about to give up hope when Banette held out her arms. She charged up a shadow ball and shot it forward. It brushed over Kate’s shoulder and hit something just behind her. The image of a Shadow Mismagius flickered a few times before settling in a mostly visible image.
Kate turned to the Shadow Mismagius and threw out her capture disc.
Kate and Keith returned to the door a minute apart at most. “Everything go okay?” Keith asked.
Kate held up her two remotes in answer. “Everything worked out. You?”
Keith held up his own remotes. “Got them both here. One of the Dim Sun grunts nearly destroyed his remote before I could get it, but a nearby Blaziken was able to swipe it from his hand for me.”
Kate nodded. “Where’s the Blaziken now?”
“He and an Absol gathered up a bunch of smaller Pokémon and jumped out of a window. Last I saw they disappeared into the forest.”
“Good.” Kate turned the remotes over in her hand. “You ready?”
“Absolutely.”
“There’s no way of knowing what’s in there,” Kate said as she pressed the first button. One of the red lights on the door turned blue. “So just… be ready for anything.” With the press of a button the next light turned blue.
“I always am,” Keith pointed out. He pressed his two buttons simultaneously. The last of the lights turned blue and the doors slid open. There was another, much smaller, door behind them.
Kate got her styler ready and pulled the door open. She was immediately met with a blinding yellow light. The light struck Kate as familiar. Like she’d seen it before. It took a bit for her eyes to adjust to the familiar light, but when she did she realized exactly what it was from and where she’d seen it before.
The Yellow Gem.
The crescent rock floated above a table in the middle of the room. It was surrounded by a dark barrier, but even that wasn’t enough to dim the Yellow Gem’s light. Keith took a few steps closer to the Yellow Gem. Kate just stared at it from the door. She shook herself out of her daze and lifted her styler up. As soon as she heard the click that indicated the voicemail connected, she spoke.
“Rhythmi! The Yellow Gem is here!”
“Chairperson Erma!”
Cynthia: The one from Haruba?!
Leon: That’s great!
Lance: You already have the Blue and Red Gems. If you can get the Yellow…
Diantha: Grab it!
“Kate.” Even with this new development, Chairperson Erma’s voice sounded as firm and neutral as it always did. “Report. You said the Yellow Gem is there?”
Kate looked around to make sure she and Keith weren’t about to be attacked. The lab looked empty, though there were a few more rooms on either side of it, not to mention a few cupboards that looked large enough for a person to hide in. Kate motioned for Keith to look through them, just in case. She took a moment for consideration, then decided to keep broadcasting her words to the chat. In her excitement she’d lost her hold on her Vocal Barriers, and it’s not like there was any point to shut the chat out now.
“The Yellow Gem is here,” Kate repeated. “On the ninth floor of Altru Tower. We initially believed that Isaac would be on this floor and could help us disable the barriers around the tower. There are no signs of Isaac but the Yellow Gem is here in one of the labs. It was heavily guarded, and even now the Yellow Gem is encased in a barrier like the ones around the tower, but… but the Yellow Gem is here.” Kate cleared her throat. “This changes everything, doesn’t it?”
Ash: It should! I mean, with those small rocks you were able to depower the Dark Shard, so with all the gems can’t you do so much more?
Cynthia: You have that machine Professor Hastings built that can broadcast the power of the Gems across all of Almia!
“Yes,” Chairperson Erma decided. “Yes, it changes everything. Kate, Keith, you need to get that Gem out of the barrier.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” Kate said. She marched forward and started examining the machine that the barrier was being cast from.
Lance: That machine wasn’t meant to work against the Incredible Machine, it might not be enough.
Cynthia: It can’t hurt!
Alder: They really just left the Yellow Gem sitting there?
Leon: Didn’t you hear? It was heavily guarded. Plus there’s still the barrier there
Kate couldn’t find any convenient button to turn the barrier off. She did find a control panel on the machine, but it was just a bunch of buttons and a single crack in the casing. She couldn’t make heads or tails of it.
One of the doors at the edge of the lab slammed open. Kate looked up to see Keith stomping out of what looked like a closet, leading a scientist into the lab. The scientist wasn’t resisting at all. If anything, he looked giddy to be following Kieth.
“Keith just found a scientist hiding in a closet.”
Ash: He can help you get the Yellow Gem!
“Kate? Chairperson Erma’s talking to Professor Hastings. Let us know as soon as you get the Yellow Gem. We can use it.”
Diantha: Do you think it’ll be hard to persuade him to help?
“You’re Rangers!” the scientist declared. “You’re really real Rangers! Are you here to rescue Professor Isaac? Stop Dim Sun? What can I do to help?”
“Should be pretty easy,” Kate muttered.
“You want to help us?” Keith asked.
“Yes!” the scientist declared. “I swear, I didn’t know what Altru was really having us build. I thought this place would double as a lighthouse.” At Keith’s disbelieving look the scientist rushed to reassure him and Kate. “I was a Pokémon Trainer when I was younger! I wasn’t very good, but I still wouldn’t want Dim Sun’s plan to work!”
“Prove it,” Keith said. He gestured to the barrier around the Yellow Gem. “Turn it off.”
The scientist wilted. “I can’t,” he admitted. “I… I don’t know how. Ice was the one who programmed it, and I don’t know the kill code. But I can turn off the barrier on the stairs!” The scientist rushed to a computer. “I saw someone dragging Professor Isaac up there earlier! He should be able to figure out what Ice did. He’s the one who taught the Sinis Trio, after all!”
“We can’t leave without the Yellow Gem,” Kate declared.
“Of course we can’t,” Keith agreed.
Leon: Yeah!
“You better not.”
Alder: Why would you?
Ash: The Yellow Gem is too important to leave behind
“Maybe we could just destroy the machine?” Keith suggested. Kate hummed and examined the control panel again. There was no indication which buttons might have been pushed more than the others. “Or just press the buttons and hope we get the right combination?” Kate’s fingers slid from the buttons to the crack running through the side of the control panel. Although, now that she examined it properly, it wasn’t accurate to call it a crack. It was intentionally put there. It was a straight line and the casing on either side of it was in pristine condition. “Oh! I’ll go get Steven, maybe he has an idea!”
“Hang on,” Kate said before Keith could start running. She ran a finger along the crack again. Then she slowly unzipped the pouch on her belt. She extracted a small plastic rectangle. She flipped it over in her hand and stared down at it for a moment. The key card that had been delivered with the warning. It couldn’t be that easy, could it?
Kate slid the key card through the card reader in the control panel. It beeped and the barrier disappeared. Keith gasped and ran forward, pulling the Yellow Gem away from where the barrier would be before it could have a chance to reappear.
“Yellow Gem secured.”
Leon: Yes!
Ash: You got it back!
Lance: That’s good. That’s very good.
Cynthia: We’re in business now!
Diantha: Get it out of there!
Alder: Good job, Kid.
“Kate, can Keith hear me?” Chairperson Erma asked.
“Right here, Ma’am!” Keith reported, leaning over to talk into Kate’s styler.
“Good. You take the Yellow Gem and leave the tower right now.”
Keith blinked. “Wh-what?”
“Find a Staraptor and join Wendy and Sven. Kate, you and Steven pivot. Your main priority is now disabling those barriers. With all three Gems, we can depower the Shadow Crystal before they even turn the Incredible Machine on.”
“We won’t have to time it for a single blip in the Machine’s startup process,” Professor Hastings added.
Keith hesitated for a moment, but one look at Kate had him nodding. “Of course.” He held the Yellow Gem close to himself. “I’m going now. I’ll voicemail you all when I get outside.”
“I’ll warn Wendy and Sven to expect you,” Rhythmi said.
“This is good,” Professor Hastings mused as Keith ran off. “Very good. Operation Brighton will be infinitely more effective with all three Gems.”