To Steal the Heart of a Thief {Pokemon Ranger Fanfiction} (Pokemon Watty Awards 2015)

Chapter 32: As Time Went On

(Rena's POV)

"Rena? Rena, are you home?"

"Yeah." I rose my voice loud enough so he could hear me, not tearing my eyes away from what I was doing at my desk. "I'm in my room."

He immediately walked down the hallway that led from the front door to my bedroom, and Kaplan instantly sighed when he saw what I was doing. "You're still working on this...?"

"I can't stop." I finished cutting out the latest newspaper article I was adding to my timeline, and I taped it to my wall among the other hundreds of photographs and newspaper articles. "Not until I find out who exactly did this to me." I stared down at my desk and paused for a moment. "Well, I know who, I just don't know...why. Why me?"

Kaplan sighed, then stepped into my room. His hands were shoved in his pockets, and he stared at all of the clippings taped to the walls. Post-it notes with scribbled algorithms on them were everywhere, lines were drawn from one picture to another, several newspaper articles regarding Team Dim Sun were placed on the timeline in chronological order, but most importantly... Every single newspaper article that was reporting Keith's heroics was up there too.

"Rena, are you sure all of this is necessary?" Kaplan sighed again. "It has been a year, after all... I'm sure the Rangers will take care of things just fine."

"Kaplan." I stiffly spoke his name, staring directly at my wall in front of me. "I have to do this. I have to solve the mystery of what Blake Hall's really up to, what was on that blueprint, and why he tried to have me killed." My eyes dropped down to my desk, and I began cutting out another newspaper article. "I have a really bad feeling about this." I turned to look at him with a determined stare. "The Rangers are fools, and they know nothing of what's really going on. I'm the only one who knows enough about Team Dim Sun to stop them."

"Alright..." Kaplan began to trudge out of my room. "I trust your judgement."

All I gave him was a head nod before getting straight back to work.

I felt a heavy weight placed on my shoulders, and I couldn't help but slump them. I stared down at the dog bed at my feet which had a depressed Mightyena laying in it. He lazily look up at me, then drooped his gaze back down to the floor.

After I was shot, I called him. Kaplan, I mean. He was the only friend that I had left. He drove over to that abandoned air strip immediately thanks to my location services on my phone allowing him to track me, and completely freaked out when he found me unconscious and bleeding out on the floor. With the help of Mightyena, he managed to get me into his car and take me back to his house off the coast of the Ranger School. When I regained consciousness, I found myself looking up at Ms. Claire trying to patch up my injury, which hurt like hell to patch up without anesthetics, but we managed to pull it off. I was lucky that my savior was a gym teacher with a big heart, because not only did he let me, the fugitive, stay with him after I explained who I really was and why I got shot, but he also took care of putting me through physical therapy. We worked hard every day to get me up and walking again, and it took two months just to accomplish that. Just imagine how much longer it took me to re-train myself to fight. I'm still a little rusty, actually...

Ms. Claire moved in shortly after I was shot to help take care of the both of us, and it didn't take long for those two to start dating. They kind of act as a foster family for me in a way. She knew the truth about me too, and yet both her and Kaplan went to such extreme measures to keep me safe and away from the police... I don't deserve their kindness, so I don't understand why they helped me so much. I really don't.

It's been a year. One year ago, I was shot and disappeared off the grid, and I've been in hiding with Kaplan and Claire ever since. It's been a year since I've spoken to Keith. It's been a year since I have hugged Rhythimi, or had an intellectual conversation with Isaac.