So far, Dustin's new schedule was working for Kelly. He wasn't running off on her like he used to, and he was getting all his work done like a normal employee should.
Kelly couldn't help but grin. Inventory had been done, the counters were cleaned, she was finally caught up on repairs and all her orders, and customers yesterday had been satisfied.
Dustin wasn't supposed to be at work today, so Kelly had the store to herself. It wasn't a busy day, so she was happy with walking around and making sure everything was in order.
The front door opened as Shane stormed in on his skateboard. Respecting Kelly's rules of "No wheels on tiles", he kicked his board up and grabbed it. He made his way over to the back counter, jumping on it. He placed the board on his lap and started playing with the wheel.
Kelly knew better than to disturb Shane. He was a very delicate creature. It was best to leave him to sort through his emotions on his own, before trying to jump in and help.
She aligned the surfboards in the window and took her time. When she was done, she strolled over to the front cash. She placed her clipboard down and looked over at Shane.
She tried to strike up a conversation while pretending to work with the cash. She didn't actually need the cash for her current job, but knew that Shane would be more likely to open up if he thought he wasn't her sole focus.
"Anything you want to talk about?"
Shane hopped off the counter, setting his board down. Slowly, he moved closer to Kelly.
"Hey, Kelly, you're a good boss, right?"
Kelly nodded, "No one's ever quit on me."
"How do you do it?" Shane asked her. "What's the trick?"
Kelly pulled away from the cash register and turned so she was facing Shane. She smiled.
"There's no trick. You just... work with them. Give them a chance. We're more... like team-mates, you know?"
"Yeah, but how can you be sure things won't get messed up if you don't do them yourself?"
Kelly leaned against the register and smirked, "I trust the people around me; especially my friends."
Shane nodded, ready to analyse what Kelly had just taught him when he heard a voice scream from outside. Kelly seemed to hear it too as she looked over his shoulder at the door.
"What was that?" she asked.
Shane turned around slowly, but straightened out when random objects flew past the store window. Kelly furrowed her brow, while Shane turned to her.
"Stay here," he told her seriously, "I'll check."
Before Kelly could object, Shane left the store. She chased after him until she reached the door. She watched him run down the street and frowned.
"What is wrong with him?" she said to herself. She shut the door, but left it unlocked, just in case he decided to come back. "It's probably a monster!"
She flipped the sign on the door and ran to the back room, figuring it was the safest place to be. She had just walked into the room, when her tools started flying towards the side wall. She shrieked, pulling back before she was struck on the head with anything hard, and glanced over at the objects that were now stuck to the wall.
They seemed to be totally random. Everything from tools, to the storage selves, to cutlery was attracted to that one wall. However, upon further inspection, Kelly noticed the one thing they all had in common. They all contained metal.
"I'm seriously considering moving," Kelly said, stepping back slowly, unaware that right behind her, her clipboard was slowly being pulled over to the far wall.
Kelly now stood before the counter and looked around her shop. Everything with high metal content was making its way towards the wall that was in the same direction where Shane had run off.
Suddenly, she felt something slam against the back of her head. Kelly's head jerked forward as the clipboard flew over it. She fell to her knees and reached to the back of her head.
Her hand shook as she felt something warm and wet. She pulled her hand back and looked down at it.
There was blood on her hand.
Whimpering, Kelly crawled to the counter, keeping low to avoid any more hits. She rested her back against it and waited for Shane to return. While she did, she reached back to the back of her head and pressed her hand against it to see if it was still bleeding.
Looking up, Kelly noticed an X-Acto knife soar over her head and gasped. Thankfully she hadn't been hit by that, or she was going to need an ambulance.
Just when things looked like they couldn't get any worse, the ground began to shake, and just outside her window, Kelly could see a large monster looming over the city. Not too far away from it stood a tall, colourful weapon. Because it was mostly red, blue and yellow, she assumed it belonged to the Rangers.
Hoping the danger would pass soon; Kelly curled up in her spot and waited patiently. She found a rag and placed it between her head and the counter to help stop the bleeding.
After what seemed like hours, everything stuck to the wall fell down. Kelly let out a long breath and got back to her feet. She was a little shaky, but managed to walk to the backroom and found herself a chair.
She sat down on it and rolled over to the desk. She placed her head in her hands as her situation replayed in her head. Screaming from outside, strange flying objects, Shane running off, more flying objects, getting hit in the head with the clipboard...
Blue Bay Harbour wasn't making sense anymore.
Kelly needed to lie down. She spun the chair around and looked at the stairs that led to her loft upstairs. She thought about testing her luck, but knew she shouldn't push it. She had a hard enough time walking a straight, flat line to the backroom. She didn't need to fall down the stairs and add to her wrist and head injuries.
Instead, she let her head fall gently onto the table and closed her eyes. As the day's events replayed again on her eyelids, Kelly let herself succumb to sleep.
-----Storm-Chargers-----
"Kelly? Yo, Kel? Are you in here?" Shane called, pushing through the door to the store. Tori and Dustin were right behind him. "Kelly?"
"This place is a mess!" Dustin frowned, noticing everything piled against the one wall. Tori nodded.
"I guess magnet head attracted more than just people," she said.
"I don't get it," Shane frowned, turning back to his friends, "I left Kelly right here and told her not to leave."
"Maybe she's upstairs," Dustin said, patting his friend on the arm before running past him. Shane and Tori exchanged looks. Tori smiled.
"Don't worry, Shane. I'm sure she's fine."
"I feel bad though," Shane said, "She's the one who really helped me today. Right before that monster attacked I had a talk with her."
"You didn't..."
"No," Shane said, shaking his head, "I asked her about the qualities of a leader... or something like that. Then the monster attacked and I had to check it out. I left her alone."
Tori nodded and was about to open her mouth to say something when her eyes caught sight of a rag on the floor. With the mess in the store, it didn't come to a surprise that the rag was out of place. What did surprise Tori was the red stain.
She bent over, picking it up gently and showing Shane. His face twisted into a look of panic.
"Oh no..."
"Dudes, chill," Dustin laughed, popping out of the backroom, "She's right here."
"What...?" Shane started, but Dustin placed his finger over his lips and hushed the Red Ranger.
"She's sleeping, dude. Don't wake her up."
Tori stepped past Dustin. If the red stain on the rag was in fact Kelly's blood, she wanted to know where her friend was hurt.
Without waking Kelly, she glanced over to see any signs of injury. Aside from her wrist, everything seemed normal.
Tori frowned, scratching the back of her head before an idea hit her. She gently stepped closer to Kelly and started brushing her hair from side to side.
"What are you doing?" Dustin whispered. Tori hushed him, finding what she was looking for on Kelly's head. There was a slight wet spot in her hair that left faint red marks on Tori's fingers. Panic spread through the Blue Ninja as she quickly tried to wake her friend.
"Kelly? Kelly, wake up!"
Kelly stirred, turning to where the noise was coming from. She opened her eyes and saw Tori.
"Tor?"
Tori breathed a huge sigh of relief and hugged her friend, "Thank goodness!"
Kelly lifted her head off the desk and looked around, "What time is it?"
Dustin checked his watch, "Closing time, dude? Do you know how long you've been out?"
"Better question," Tori said, "Do you remember what happened?"
Kelly nodded, "There was a monster attack."
"Did the monster come in here?" Shane asked, "I swear, if he did..."
"No... But everything was attracted to the wall. The clipboard hit me in the back of the head on its way over."
"What about after that?" Tori asked.
"When the monster attack was over, I came in here to rest," Kelly answered, "I didn't think I would be out this long though."
Kelly pushed away from the desk and tried to stand. As soon as she started to wobble, Shane and Dustin were by her side, supporting her. Kelly thanked them.
"Are you guys okay?" she asked as they led her to the couches. "Shane, where did you disappear too?"
Shane rubbed the back of his neck, "Sorry about that, Kel. I... um..."
"Did you go home?" Kelly asked. Shane exchanged a look with Tori and Dustin then nodded.
"Uh, yeah... Sorry I worried you," he said.
Kelly smiled before looking at Dustin and Tori, "You guys are okay, right?'
They both nodded, "We're fine."
Tori sat beside Kelly, "I don't like that cut on your head though. How are you feeling?"
"A little dizzy," Kelly answered honestly, shutting her eyes for just a moment as a headache finally kicked in. "I'll be fine after a little rest. If you guys don't mind, I'll just..."
Kelly was going to get up, but Dustin and Shane held her down. Tori looked at her sympathetically.
"How about you stay at my place for the night?" Tori offered.
"I'll be fine..." Kelly started, but Tori shook her head.
"What if you don't wake up tomorrow?" Tori asked. "We might not realise in time to be able to help you."
Kelly gave in, "Are you sure your parents would be okay with it?"
"They totally owe you," Tori nodded, "How many times did I stay at your place while they went on vacation? I'll go get your stuff."
While Tori went upstairs, Dustin helped Kelly back onto her feet. He stayed by her until she was steady, but kept his hands at the ready to catch her just in case she fell.
"Boy, ever since these monsters appeared, you've been taking quite the beating," Dustin joked, "First the wrist, now this."
Kelly glared at him, "If I remember correctly, it's your fault my wrist is still hurting."
Shane laughed, "Well, Tori will be glad to know there's no brain damage."
Dustin pouted, "Dude, I'm just saying. If I didn't know better, I would say you were one of the Power Rangers."
Kelly glared at Dustin before shaking her head. Shane took advantage of Kelly looking away to punch his friend in the arm. Dustin groaned, turning to the Red Ranger.
"What?" he mouthed.
Shane didn't answer, instead he simply scowled. Dustin finally realised what Shane was getting at.
"Ohh," he breathed.
Tori came back into the front room with Kelly's bag slung over her shoulder, "I've got all your stuff. You ready to go?"
"Yeah," Kelly nodded, stepping away from the two boys. Tori extended her arm, letting Kelly use her for support.
"I have my van. Don't worry, you're not walking all the way back," she said.
Shane and Dustin waited for Kelly and Tori to leave. They cleaned up the shop a little bit, knowing Kelly wasn't going to be in the mood to do so tomorrow.
They picked everything up off the floor before Dustin turned to Shane.
"I guess I'm working tomorrow, dude."
"We owe her that much," Shane nodded.
"Hey, I didn't leave her here alone," Dustin reminded his friend. "You owe her. I'm just being nice."
"Whatever," Shane laughed, tossing the blood-stained rag at Dustin. "You ready to go?"
"Totally."
They made it out the door and locked it before turning to the parking lot. Tori's van was gone. Dustin groaned.
"Oh, dude..."
"She left us!" Shane frowned. "Now how are we going to get back?"
Dustin shrugged, "Sensei always said: 'You have feet, use them and get me my hat'."
Shane forced a laugh, "That was before I mastered my air powers."
"Dude, you knocked his little hat thing off every time you tried to make wind."
"At least I don't get stuck in the dirt," Shane laughed, patting Dustin on the back before taking the lead. Dustin stopped and frowned.
"Not funny, dude!"