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

Chapter 36: Dance the Night Away

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The sun had set on Altru Park, cuing the automatic fountain lights to flick on and to hauntingly illuminate the center of the park that was just outside of the gargantuan dusk tower. Rena and the Rangers marched right through the grassy gardens of the park filled with the many other individuals dressed to the nines and went straight for the bottom floor of Altru Tower: the location of said ball.

When the automatic, translucent doors slid open, yellow floors and sepia walls glowed with the crystal light fixtures that highlighted the sparkling couples twirling across the dance floor like music box dancers. Smorgasbords of food and drinks were pushed off to the side, creating the maximum amount of space for the dancers. Several ladies and gentlemen sat down at the few round tables pushed around the edges of the room away from the dancing area, either having no intention such gallivanting or were simply lacking a partner. The entire room was booming with music and laughter, and the party was already a huge hit just half an hour in.

All Altru employees wore black tuxedos with their badges clipped to their front pockets, handing out all sorts of new business cards and brochures. After all, this was a ball celebrating the grand opening tomorrow. This ball was how they were going to advertise that they wanted donations to their company and make new clients, so anyone who worked here was instructed to look the part.

"Alright, so Altru Tower has ten base floors." Rena turned around and looked over at Isaac. "What else?"

"On top of the main building is a scaffolding extension to the tower." Isaac quickly added. "It has five levels: three are for security, one is a research floor, and then there's the observation deck just before the rooftop, where the Shadow Crystal is." Isaac concluded his debrief of the tower's structure.

Rena just sighed, lowering her voice so that only the Ranger Union members could here. "Great, so I need to find ten employees, swipe away their access cards for the first ten floors, and then I need to locate someone with a master key that would have access to the five-floor extension up top." She stressfully rubbed at her temples. "...this won't be hard at all."

Sven picked up on her sarcasm immediately, "...are you sure you can pull this off?" He was doubtful that Rena, or should he say Kate, could pull this off.

Rena rolled her eyes over to Sven, a little annoyed. "It's not like this is my first job, you know." She bit down on her lip a little out of her irritation with the raven-haired man. "I've done this before."

Sven rolled his eyes and completely disregarded that statement. "Just because you're wearing a tight dress doesn't mean some guy isn't going to notice you lifting his wallet from his pocket."

Her eyebrows furrowed as she slipped into a confident glare. "Really? It's always worked before." Rena turned her chin up in a huff and spun around on her heel, preparing to walk away. "Oh yeah, and Sven?" She paused for a moment to glance at the doll-like man.

The cowboy Ranger looked back over at her. "Hmm?"

The brunette swiftly held her hand up to display a wallet that she had wedged between two of her delicate fingers. "Here's your wallet back," she carelessly tossed it at him as she walked away and disappeared into the crowd in search of her next victim.

Wendy dropped her jaw and quickly smacked Sven, earning a loud "OW!" from the cowboy Ranger who had let his guard down.

When had she even swiped his wallet!?

Hastings and Erma couldn't help but share a light chuckle after seeing Rena get the best of one of their Top Rangers.

Keith watched Rena go silently, already uncomfortable with this idea. If she was his date, then shouldn't she be staying by his side? Just the idea of her dancing with other guys was already pissing him off. What angered him even more was the thought of why the hell she still had this effect on him even after everything that happened between the two of them.