A/N: I'm really sorry for taking this long to update! But school started back this week and seeing as I skipped a year...I know nobody in my year now. So be patient :) And the updates are more than likely going to be around a week sometimes less because of the amount of work I have to do now. Anyways I hope you like this and don't forget to let me know what you think about it :D
The scenery was red and covered in dust; rock formations towered over them as dead logs lay in their paths. It was like being on the surface of the planet Mars. It was a dead and baron place.
A dead tree branch rolled by which ironically reminded me of Spongebob for some reason.
"Why in the name of God am I thinking about Spongbob when I'm in the middle of freaking nowhere on a mission?!" I thought yelled at myself.
"Come on you guys," Shane said as he walked ahead of me and Dustin but not very far considering we were linked together by cuffs around our wrists.
"Ow," I yelled, "Shane!" As he yanked us forward by our handcuffed wrists.
"Urgh," the Red Ninja complained, "this could take all day!" and he pulled his arm once more, the same arm that was attached to me.
I had to fight the urge to swear out loud seeing as Sensei was probably watching us right now and it would only cause me more pain if he heard. Senseis punishments towards swearing and bad language tended to be some extreme form of exercise like a 10k run or 100 push up non-stop. And I wasn't even allowed do the girl ones!
So I stuck with "Ow!" Which really had no effect on Shane at all. But if I had cussed he would have definitely listened to me cause u would have used choice words that I usually reserve for extreme moments.
"Shane, will you stop pulling? My arm is totally tweaked" I practically yelled at him with a warning tone in my voice.
The Red Ninja turned to her and apologised in a soft tone, "Sorry Tor." My anger started to slowly fade away at that. Shane had apologised. That was something he didn't usually do. Correction that was something he never did.
"It would be so much faster if we could just split up."
"And he's back," I sighed internally. "Not to mention less painful," this however I said out loud. What? There are somethings that have to be said!
"You know, this Scroll of three thing better be worth it man," Dustin said from Shane's other side "these cuffs are brutal." This was practically the first time Dustin had spoken since the mission had started.
"Sensei would not have sent us," Shane said turning to the Yellow Ninja "if it were not important. Its gotta be here somewhere" he said, pulling his friends forward once more.
"Shane if you seriously don't stop yanking us forward like that, you will be a very sorry guy when this is over." I threatened.
Shane looked over at that with slightly terrified expression on his face. I glared back at him unflinchingly. The stare down continued for a couple
of seconds until Shane looked away. I was a champion at staring competitions.
"What kind of scroll are we talking about anyway?" Dustin asked trying to steer us away from the topic.
I looked across at him and snapped, "I'm thinking if we see a scroll anywhere around here, that's probably it."
Dustin sighed and looked ahead "Woah, time of month maybe?" he asked Shane in a quiet voice.
"Five bucks saying yes," Shane replied back in an equally quiet voice.
They had tried to be quiet but I still heard him over the silent nothingness around us.
"It will be someone's time to die if you don't-" I started.
"Well, there's one" he said pointing ahead of him cutting me off in hurried tone.
"Whoa," Shane and me said when we spotted what we were searching for.
But before anyone else could say anything, Shane had started forward pulling the other two with him.
As I was looking up at it I saw that there was writing on it.
"Wait!" I cried, "It says something..."
"Stronger than one is three," Shane read from the ground.
Dustin turned to us, "What? That's it?" he exclaimed, "We would have been better off buying Fortune Cookies!"
"Let's just grab it and bail" I sighed, exhausted and pissed that we went through what we did for a tiny scroll.
"I'll get it," Shane announced and he jumped upward, taking me and Dustin with him. We missed the scroll and fell back on the ground.
"Who's on my foot?" Dustin asked, before looking up,"Shane!"
I groaned as I pushed myself up using Shane for support, "That was so not effective!"
Shane sighed, "I'll do this myself" he mumbled, pushing himself up and pulling us with him.
Suddenly there were Kelzaks all around them three of them and Dustin panicked slightly.
"Uh, Kelzaks," he said pointing out the obvious "party at 10!"
A Kelzak from the front raced forward and Shane reacted instantly; as he tried to fight forward; Dustin tried to fight from the side and I tried the other side. Seeing as the three of us were tied together, it wasn't exactly our smartest move. Shane then raced forward; and pulled me around so I ended up facing him.
"Will you ever stop pulling my arm, Shane?" she paused to yell at him, before yelping and ducking backwards as a Kelzak attacked her and Shane, she pulled her arm trying to react and continue fighting but Shane was pulling her another way.
"Wait! Wait!" I heard Dustin yelled from the other side as I felt myself being pulled backwards.
"Dustin!" I shouted over to him, as he tumbled backwards onto the ground. A Kelzak took this as an opportunity to attack and pulled its weapon up over its head.
"Dustin, look out" Shane yelled as he pulled his friend back up, he then flipped over backwards, before me and Dustin mimicked his actions catching onto what he was trying to do. Now that the cuffs weren't all twisted around each other as they had been during the battle we got ready to start fighting again. The three of us reached an understanding, as Shane kicked out and threw a Kelzak backwards, before flipping over backwards once more; he then raced forward and kicked out, but this only resulted in all three of us hitting the sand covered ground.
The Kelzaks loomed over us and raised their weapons. We saw this as an opportunity to get rid of the cuffs so we raised our cuff clad wrists as the Kelzaks brought down their weapons through the air.
I shut my eyes and started praying that this would. I opened my eyes as I heard the clang of metal hitting the sand.
"Stay here," Shane commanded and jumped up, "I'll get the scroll."
"Hey, wait!" Dustin yelled, but Shane had already gone. The Kelzaks swarmed in on us as Shane reached the scroll a little ways ahead of them.
"Oh, yeah!" Shane cheered as he raced forward.
"Shane!" I yelled as the Kelzaks got even closer, "Wait! Stop!"
At this, Shane stopped and turned to see the Kelzaks pick up me and Dustin and throw us into the centre of a circle they had formed; I looked up to Shane, desperation etched onto my face.
"Dude!" Dustin yelled
"Help us!" I screamed, reaching out to him.
The Kelzaks jumped into the air and brought their weapons down onto Dustin and me as Shane shot out his hand to stop them, "Tori! Dustin!" he yelled.
But the Kelzaks didn't touch us as they disappeared just before doing so, and so did the deserted baron place.
Shane sighed, "Almost had it!" he complained
"Simulation, over" Cam said, hitting the 'enter' key on his laptop from the table in the middle of Ninja Ops "Well," he said, looking up at us "that was, below average. It will be on the mainframe if you want to relive any of it."
And with that he pushed away from the table and walked away.
"Rangers," Sensei said as he watched Cam leave, "you were lucky this was only a simulation."
"Sensei, why can't we get this right?" I asked "Why do we keep failing?"
"That is for you to figure out," Sensei answered me.
"Tomorrow, we will try again" and he flipped backwards.
All of us blew out a collective sigh. I got up and stated heading for the door just as Dustin did the same.
"Come on Tor," Dustin said tiredly.
"Hey, wait" Shane said from behind them, stopping the two of them "where are you guys going?"
"Home, man" Dustin said, as if it was the most obvious thing on earth. Which in my opinion was.
"Hey no way!" Shane said, "Not until we get this right"
"Sensei said we'll try again tomorrow" I pointed out getting more frustrated by the second.
"And dude, if I don't get any sleep," Dustin said rubbing his eyes, "Tomorrow is just gonna be a replay of today." He said it in such matter of fact way that I had to bite back a giggle.
"Look, that's why we gotta keep practicing until you guys get it right!" Shane said, realizing his choice of words too late.
"Until WE get it right?" I demanded turning back to the Red Ranger. My anger and frustration throughout the day finally tipped over the edges.
Shane sighed,"Look, that's not what I meant," he said trying to erase what he had initially said.
I scoffed "Oh, we know exactly what you meant!" I snapped and headed for the cool tunnel leading out of Ops.
"He's not worth it. He's not worth it." I chanted to myself, before I lost it and punched him in the face.
Shane sighed and chased after us, grabbing my hands and pulling me around to face him; I ripped my hand away from Shane's grasp angrily. Dustin followed my actions.
I kept up my chant in my head before Shane received some serious disfigurations to his face.
"This is not Ninja School anymore," he told them, his voice barely above a whisper "This is the real deal, and if you're not willing to focus on what's important, then –"
He was cut off as Dustin finally spoke up having had enough of him too,"Dude!" the Yellow ranger interrupted "If you think you can do a better job all by yourself, then go for it!"
"Well maybe I will," Shane answered.
"Fine!" I seethed, as I quickly forced myself to turn and head out of the tunnel, Dustin following.
"Later dude," Dustin told his friend, as he followed me out. At least he bothered to say goodbye. I on the otherhand, was fighting very hard to keep my hand where it was and not letting my feet go in the complete opposite direction.
XXX
I finally made it all the way home without having punched anyone. Well except for the well chosen tree that I hit right outside the lake and waterfall.
As soon as I'd gotten home the only thing in my mind was the big bathtub upstairs.
XXX
The next morning I had calmed down and went for my normal morning surf. It helped clear my mind of anything ranger related which was just what I needed right now.
All I had to think about was the salty smell of the water all around me and the sure feel of the surfboard underneath me.
As I coasted in the morning heat, I spotted a familiar head of red hair. By the look of its fierce shade I was sure it was Ronnie. Wow, two days here and she's already figured out my secret spot? She's definitely becoming my new best friend.
I paddled over to where she was sitting and with a spaced out look on her face. It reminded of the mornings that I often did that.
"Hey," I said with a smile, when I got close enough for her to hear me over the sound of the waves.
She gave herself a slight shake and looked over to see me smiling. "Hey yourself," she replied back laughing.
"Something wrong?"
"No! Why would you ask that?" she asked back.
"Just that look you had, I know it. I'm here to listen if you want," I answered.
"I guess I miss Ireland that's all," she sighed.
"Hey, you'll be fine! You'll get over it soon enough. And look at how quickly you started making friends here. Its almost like you belong here," I said laughingly towards the end.
"I guess you're right," she said smiling at me gratefully. "So you wanna catch a couple of waves?" she asked already sounding cheerier.
"Actually I was just heading out of the water," I replied back sadly, "I have to go meet Dustin at Storm Chargers." I finished.
"Just Dustin? What about Shane?" she asked in a mostly innocent voice. But I picked up on it straight away.
"Ooohh someone has a crush," I sang happily with a smirk spread wide across my face.
Ronnie just turned the exact same colour as her hair and stuttered out a broken response along the lines of, "No, I do not."
"Hmm mmm," I said sarcastically. But I dropped it seeing the blush disappearing and dangerous glare replacing it. I'll badger her about it later.
"Well I gotta head out but I'll catch ya later?" I asked her.
"Yeah sure," she replied, still glaring. I just laughed and splashed water across at her. I waved and headed out of the water to go and meet Dustin so they could head to ninja ops. They were still pissed at Shane so they actually had no idea where he was. I hadn't talked to him since ninja ops yesterday and I wasn't planning on it until he admitted he was wrong and apologised.
XXX
We came into ninja ops hearing Cam talking to someone who I presumed to be Sensei. Cam turned and switched his computer. "Where's Shane?" he asked us as we knelt down near the table.
"I don't know," Dustin answered, "Single-handledly saving the world." he finished somewhat sarcastically.
"Yeah," I agreed "I guess its nice being a one man army."
"Each piece has its place" Sensei began looking at me "Shane will learn, but you must help him."
"That's the problem," I started again, "he won't let us help!"
"He will," Sensei responded "give him time."
I sighed, but remained quiet as Dustin groaned tiredly and rubbed his eyes. It was obvious he had just woken up.
A while later, Cam had just been alerted of the monster attack and had hacked into the security cameras in the vicinity to see what was happening. He had just uploaded the data when I Shane being attacked.
"What's up Cam?" I asked worriedly, stopping behind him. Sure me and Shane weren't talking at the moment but Shane was still my friend and I still cared about him.
"Its Shane," Cam answered me "and some weird magnet head…thing" he trailed off unsurely, "I tapped into the Police surveillance cameras, when I saw the energy readings, they were off the chart!"
"We better get over there," I said, and me and Dustin started heading towards the door to leave, but Sensei's voice called us back.
"Wait!" the Guinea pig ordered "I will let you know when it is time."
We exchanged incredulous looks, our friend was in trouble and we were forbidden to help. How could this not turn out wrong?
XXX
However she was proven wrong by the end of the day. Shane had finally admitted that he couldn't do this whole gig on his own and had swallowed his pride and asked for our help. We had destroyed the monster all together and destroyed it again when he grew about thirty feet into the air.
The best part of the day was probably getting the zords, in my opinion. Even though Sensei would probably say something more along the lines of how we were able to put our differences aside and work as team. But no, the zords and the megazord were the highlight of my day.
A/N: So I hope you liked it. Open to any suggestions or ideas. Drop me a review :D
Disclaimer: Forgot to add this last time...I do not own power rangers or any part of it. It belongs to its rightfull owners Disney and sSaban. I however do own Ronnie and anything new thats there and there is to come.
