Gia woke up with a sick feeling in well… everywhere. Truth be told, she had been feeling a bit ill for a long time. She couldn't explain what was wrong, she just felt like something was a bit off. It was like something needed to be let out. Gia felt something stir in her stomach and rushed to the bathroom. Moments passed as Gia hovered over the toilet, but nothing came out. The ill feeling quickly went away so Gia decided to see how Emma was doing. She had told her that she was feeling the same way, but maybe Emma found a way to make it go away.
Gia got up and slowly made her way to Emma's room. Luckily, it was also upstairs and just across her room so it didn't take too much effort. She opened the door and found her friend in a similar position as her. Emma was hidden under her blankets while her trash can was full of used tissues.
"How're you holding up?" Gia asked. Emma's head popped out her blanket and she looked to her best friend with tired eyes. She pointed to her trashcan.
"Does that answer your question?"
"I guess we're both still feeling it." Gia sighed as she sat on the edge of Emma's bed.
"What do you think it is?"
"I really don't know."
"It had to start from somewhere." Emma began to push herself up, allowing her back to rest on her bed's headboard. "There's no way that something this bad randomly popped up from nowhere."
"Maybe someone from school passed it on to us?"
"And then it lingers for almost a month?" Gia said. "I don't think this is some ordinary flu."
"Okay, so we started feeling it about a month ago. What were we both doing a month ago?"
Emma's face fell when she thought about her own question. A month ago they were fighting against each other due to Vrak's doings. Everything she went through during that time had been one of the worst experiences in her life. She was forced to live with the memory of fighting her closest friends and then had to survive an explosion. To add to that, she also had to defend herself from Troy's accusations and willed herself to move on from the first boy she liked. In other words, it sucked.
"Wait a minute," Gia's eyes widened as she thought about Emma's question. "The both of us were in that explosion, remember?"
"I wish I could forget." Emma muttered. "I can still feel some of the burns from the bomb. And by the way, you need cut back on the smoothies from Ernie's. "
Gia rolled her eyes at her comment and continued with her thoughts. "The bomb could've gotten us sick!"
"Gia, I don't think the heat from the explosion would get us sick."
"But it wasn't an ordinary bomb, remember."
Emma's stomach turned as she realized what Gia was saying. The bomb had radioactive elements fused into it in order to cause more damage. Vrak had done his research on humans and knew that the radioactivity could do severe damage to the body. His plan was to use it against human rangers.
"We need to get this checked out now. Maybe Tensou can take a look at us." Gia suggested. "Especially before anything serious happens."
Emma nodded and peeled herself out of bed. The two of them went through their backpacks and pulled out their morphers. Before they went to the command center, Emma checked the door to make sure no one was coming. There was no sight of anyone so the two girls teleported out of their rooms.
Once they got there, they found Tensou typing away on a console. They made their way over to their little robot friend. "Hey Tensou, can you do us a favor?"
"What do you need?" Tensou asked.
"Do you mind scanning us for any abnormalities? We've been feeling a bit sick for awhile."
"Sure, just give me a second." Tensou wheeled over to his table and grabbed a few of his scanners. He was programmed to not only create ranger technology, but to care for the rangers too. When the rangers couldn't go to the doctors due to their ranger secret, they would have to go to Tensou instead. The doctors would only question their injuries and it wasn't like they could tell them that they were fighting aliens every day. "You can take a seat there, but stay still."
Tensou waved his wand over the girls, but couldn't find anything wrong with them. Their temperatures were normal, their blood pressure was fine, and there didn't seem to be any indication of an infected wound. He couldn't give them an answer.
"When did you start feeling like this?"
"Right after Vrak's bomb exploded."
"Oh no," Tensou started to panic. "I didn't think about this possibility."
"What're you talking about?" Gia asked worriedly. Even for a robot, the anxious emotion could still be heard in his robotic voice.
"You're human!" Tensou exclaimed.
"Yeah…"
"The radiation from the bomb can affect you. I didn't think about that!" Tensou wheeled around frantically. "When I checked your vitals, I didn't check you for radiation poisoning. Unlike robots or aliens, you humans are affected by it greatly. I can't believe I didn't think about it! I…I…"
"Tensou!" Emma called out. The panicked robot snapped out of it and looked to the girls apologetically. "It's okay, we'll be fine. Just tell us how to cure it."
"I'm so sorry." He looked down at the floor. "I don't know."
"How can you not know?
"I don't know how this is going to affect you. It's different for every human. In fact, you two should be dead! You were exposed to that radiation without any treatment for hours."
"Dead?" Gia's eyes widened. Sure she felt a little sick, but she couldn't imagine dying from this.
"Hold still while I run a few more tests."
Both girls nervously nodded and watched as Tensou continued to scan them. Suddenly, Gia started scrunching her nose in discomfort.
"Yellow ranger, you need to stay still!"
"I'm sorry, I can't help it. I really need to sneeze!" Gia explained. "I can't hold it in anymore."
Right after Gia spoke, a loud sneeze came out from her and the ground surrounding the command center shook. After stabilizing themselves, the three of them looked to each other with confused looks on their faces. Earthquakes never hit Harwood, and would never be as sudden as what they just experienced.
"What just happened?" Emma asked.
"I don't know, but I feel so much better." Gia sighed in content. Emma looked to her friend and stared as a thought came into her head.
"What?" Gia noticed the weird look Emma was giving her. It was the look she put on when she was trying to figure something out.
"Do you think that tremor came from you?"
"Okay, I know my sneeze was loud, but I don't think it would be strong enough to shake this huge building."
"But you feel better now, right?"
Gia paused for a moment and realized that the icky feeling was completely gone. It was no longer lingering like it had been before. Whatever she needed to get out of her system was finally out.
"And yet I still feel like I want to throw up." Emma furrowed her brow. Something was going on, she just didn't know what. Emma groaned, "Ugh, where's Noah when you need him. He might be able to help us figure this out."
Just then, Gosei's face lit up in the front of the command center. "I think I may have the answer for you, pink ranger."
"And you didn't say anything ten minutes ago because…"
"I was not sure if my theory was correct. But I think your yellow ranger just proved it."
"Okay so what's happening to us?"
"Under normal circumstances, you two should definitely be dead. The exposure to that level of radiation would've killed you two. It's the reason why I held back the remaining rangers in the command center. The level of radiation was too dangerous for them to go back out."
"Well that's great." Gia rolled her eyes. She was starting to get a bit annoyed with her supposed ranger mentor. It was literally a giant tiki head plastered onto the wall and all it did was show up late.
Gosei ignored her sarcasm and continued with his explanation. "But luckily, Emma was morphed when the impact of the explosion happened. The ranger suit kept you and Emma from being killed, but it seems like the slight exposure left something behind in your bodies."
He looked to Gia. "That sneeze triggered your new powers. It was building up inside of the two of you the entire time. It is probably the reason why you felt sick. The built up power didn't have a proper outlet so it caused fatigue and nausea.
"Are we talking about new ranger powers?"
"No, elements from the radiation somehow managed to bond with your DNA. Instead of it killing you, it gave you supernatural enhancements. Based on what I witnessed earlier, it seems like Gia has the ability to manipulate the earth."
"So I can pretty much use the Gosei power cards without having to morph." Gia said. "Cool."
"If Gia can control the earth, then does that mean I'll be able to control the air?" Emma questioned.
"It is highly likely, but not I'm certain. Like Tensou said, the effects will be different for everyone. However, you took in a lot more radiation than Gia. There is a chance that you will have more than one power."
"Then why don't you sound too pleased?"
"Gia didn't get too exposed because you were covering her the entire time. However, you absorbed it all in instead; therefore, you will probably experience a few side effects after the discovery of your new powers."
"What kind of side effects?"
"I do not know. You will to find that out for yourself." Once again, Gosei's face dimmed away, signaling that he gone.
Emma groaned at his response. Her question was answered, but in the end, it left her with a million more. Now she had to face the fact that she would have to live with these powers for the rest of her life. It didn't seem too bad, but what worried her were the mysterious side effects. Gosei never said if they were good or bad. Emma didn't want to believe what Gosei saying was true, but then again, a few months ago, she would have never believed in aliens or that she would become the next pink ranger.
"Hey, it'll be okay." Gia wrapped a comforting arm around her friend. "You'll be fine. Nothing is going to happen to you. Just look at the bright side, we have some pretty kick ass powers now. The aliens won't know what they have coming."
"But I don't even know how to trigger mine." Emma whispered. And I don't think I want to."
"Why not? We'll be the best super powered heroes this world could ever ask for."
"I'm afraid of what the side effects can do. There's a chance that it'll do more harm than good."
"Oh…" Gia breathed. She realized that her friend was right. Gosei never said that the side effects would be good. For all she knew, it could kill her best friend. She pulled Emma in a bit closer and let her head rest on her shoulder. "We'll figure it out eventually. Until then, try not trigger your powers."
"I don't even know how, so I think we're good for now."
"I can continue running some tests to predict the possible side effects." Tensou suggested.
"That would be great." Emma gave him a thankful smile. But before Tensou continued his examination, Emma needed to ask one more question. "Was anyone else exposed to the radiation?"
-Power Problems-
Troy woke up in cold sweat as another dream forced him to open his eyes. For several weeks, Troy would lose several hours of sleep due to these mysterious visions. He didn't know why he kept dreaming of it, he just did. In every single dream, he saw several unrecognizable rangers fighting in some sort of giant war. And by the looks of it, his team was in the front leading it.
He didn't understand what any of his dreams meant, but he was worried that it would become a future. If there was going to be a war, then that meant that he was going to be having his ranger career for a very long time. He loved being a ranger, but there were times that he missed being a regular teenager. He wouldn't have the weight of the world on his shoulders. He wouldn't have to worry about making life threatening mistakes. He could just be a carefree teenager. The most stressful thing he would have to do is submit a college application during his senior year. Now he had to worry about some sort of war?
Troy shook his head in disbelief, hoping that his dream would stay a dream. There was no way something that big could happen. Plus, he didn't remember seeing any armada ships in the Warstar Empire's arsenal. Things didn't add up so by using logic, he assumed that his dream had to be fake. Maybe it was just the stress reflecting into his mind. But for some reason, he still couldn't shake off his dream.