Fusion: The Rise of Devone
A Power Rangers Story
"So Bored With These Games"
Part Four
Casey winced as Katherine softly dabbed a wet rag against the seething dark red cuts that resided on her forehead. She could hear the twisting and turning of bolts and the clanking of tools as Hayley worked inside of the healing machine. She was attempting to alter the machine to not only heal major wounds, but also heal bruises and at the very least close up cuts. The rangers couldn't exactly go to school looking as if they had just been plowed over by the entire football team could they? People would start to get suspicious and start asking all the right questions and they couldn't have that. So she was working profusely as Casey sat on the counter, her feet dangling above the ground.
"No one spoke for a long time. Only the sounds coming from Hayley working and the faint beeping of the heart monitor that was hooked up to an unconscious Conner kept the room from being completely silent. Every once in a while a sharp intake of breath could be heard coming from Casey as she winced when Katherine touched a particularly sensitive wound.
"Casey looked at the red ranger as he laid shirtless on a bed a few feet away. She had got to him just in time. She morphed, hoping that all the cameras had gotten knocked out, and ran out to see Conner falling rapidly from the sky. He was unmorphed and unconscious; she could see the blood dripping from his face as she jumped up and caught him, though she couldn't stop his forehead from splitting open as it butted into her helmet due to the way he was falling. However, a split forehead beat the alternative- had she been a second later, he would have redecorated Main Street. Still, it didn't make her feel any better. He was hurt badly; Kira had really done a number on him, though Alpha said that he would be alright once he woke up... if he woke up.
""How did this happen?" Katherine asked softly, noticing the young black ranger staring at the boy in red.
"She held a dry rag to Casey's forehead, waiting for her to answer. Casey never took her eyes off of Conner as she considered her answer.
""He was protecting me." Casey's voice shook.
"From Kira?" Katherine asked.
"Casey nodded, trying not to cry. It pained her to see him like this, knowing that he had only gone up to the roof to draw Kira away from her. She felt like she should be the one lying in that bed, not him.
"She showed up at the theater and attacked me. I couldn't morph right away because there were people around and cameras to worry about. I held her off the best I could, but even when I knew the room was clear, I never really had time to morph. I was knocked unconscious before Conner got there. When I woke up, I heard sounds above me and figured that they must have went up to the roof. I morphed and ran out of there just in time to see Conner basically falling down on top of me. He was bleeding and unconscious.. I didn't know what to do so I just jumped up and caught him before bringing him here." She explained. "He's laying in that bed because of me."
"Kat shook her head. "There's nothing you could have done, Casey. We're all put in difficult situations at times. Conner made a choice, one that you would have made had you been in the same situation. She was going to attack him whether he went up to that roof or not. We should just feel lucky that she didn't stab him with her arm blades or something else that could have killed him. Alpha said he'll be fine once he wakes up."
"If he wakes up." Casey corrected her, darkly.
"Kat looked into Casey's eyes for a moment before reverting them to the box beside Casey on the counter. She didn't want to admit it, but Casey had a point.
"He'll wake up." She spoke quickly and unconvincing. "Now lets get some band aids on these cuts until the machine is ready."
"Kat reached for the box and pulled out a few band aids. She opened one, revealing a neon pink color.
"Ooh Colors." Casey spoke sarcastically as she smirked. She was trying to distract herself. "That's going to look just awesome."
"They could be worse." Kat told her. "They could be Teletubbies."
"Casey nodded, knowingly, as Kat went to place the band aid on her cheek. However, Kat stopped, wearing a confused expression on her face before grabbing the wet rag and wiping a bit of dry blood from off of Casey's cheek. She set the rag down and looked at the spot, unsure.
"What is it?" Casey asked.
"Oh, nothing." Kat responded. "I just though... I could have sworn that you had a cut there."
"Casey reached up and felt her cheek. It was smooth.
"Nope." Casey shrugged. "It was probably just some blood that dripped down from my forehead. I swear it feels like someone took a giant bell and hung it just above my head before ringing it over and over again using my head for the clapper thingy."
"Ouch." Katherine winced, sympathizing with Casey as she placed the band aid on a small cut around Casey's temple. "We'll get you some Tylenol as soon as I get this big cut covered up with some gauss."
"Because I won't look ridiculous enough without it?" Casey questioned sarcastically.
"No." Kat started as she placed the patch of gauss on Casey's forehead and started to tape it in its place. "Because you're still bleeding and seeing as how I really don't want you to die, I figured we better get it covered up before you lose too much blood or it gets infected."
"Fair enough." Casey agreed. "Thanks."
"As Kat was finished taping on the gauss, Casey's eyes fell back to Conner.
"You really think he's going to wake up?" Casey asked.
"Yeah, I do." Katherine answered optimistically. "You have to think like that or this job will eat you up inside."
"Casey was about to respond when Jake came tearing through the doors to the medical center. He saw Kat first. His face was full of worry and he was breathing as if he had just ran a marathon.
"Is she OK?" He began firing questions. "Why didn't you guys call me sooner! What happened? Did Kira do this to her because I swear I'll -"
"Jake!" Casey interrupted. "Calm down, I'm fine."
"Oh." Jake stopped panicking as he saw his best friend. He tried to get his heart to stop racing as he spoke, relief flooding over his voice. "Good, good. Yeah."
"We didn't call you as soon as I showed up, because Conner wasn't OK." Casey began.
"Jake noticed Conner laying in the bed for the first time. Tommy had contacted him, and as soon as he said Casey had been hurt he was gone. He hadn't even listened to the rest of what Tommy had to say.
"We had to get him bandaged up and then Kat started working on me." Casey motioned towards her forehead. "Dr. Oliver's searching for Kira now. We have to end this."
"Jake nodded solemnly, looking back to Casey. "How's is he?"
"Alpha says that he'll be fine when he wakes up." Casey answered.
"Jake nodded, turning to her and smirking. "Stop worrying. I've known Conner for a long time. He's a fighter. He'll pull through."
"Casey smiled. "How'd you know I was worrying?"
"Easy. Because I know you, and I know how you think." Jake answered. "And I know that he will wake up, and when he does, he's going to laugh at you for worrying so much. Especially for a girl who supposedly isn't interested."
"Casey couldn't help but smile. Jake always had that effect on her; the ability to lift her up from off the ground in the way only a best friend can. He smiled and pulled her into a tight hug. She wrapped her arms around him, resting her head on his chest.
"I'm really, really glad you're OK." He told her.
"How's he doing?" Tommy asked as he joined the others down in the medical bay a few hours later.
Conner was still lying unconscious and unmoving.
"His vitals have improved, but he's still not up." Katherine answered his question.
Casey was standing, leaning up against the counter. Her bandages were removed and her face looked as good as it ever did. Alpha had dug out an old hand held healing device which closed up the wounds, without any scaring, much to everyones surprise. The device was old and out of date, it had been used when Tommy and Kat were young rangers on several occasions, but it was all they had until Hayley was finished making the adjustments to the healing machine, which was taking her much longer than she had anticipated. She continued to work as Alpha began adjusting the controls on the council next to where Conner was, hoping for him to wake up soon before any more damage could be done. The other rangers stood close by, trying to figure out what there next move was going to be.
"Did you find Kira?" Jake asked.
"No." Tommy shook his head."It's like she just fell off the face of the Earth...again."
"She's in a shielded area." Katherine offered. "Probably Devone's layers, gloating about how she's finished off the red ranger."
"You know, you'd think after last time, she'd stick around. You know, to see if he actually died." Jake continued.
"You'd think." Casey answered. "But luckily for us, she didn't. Even morphed, I don't think I could have taken her by myself. She's too strong for any one of us to handle alone. Which seems to be her thing. Singling us out so she can take us down easily, one by one."
"If only we could find her first." Katherine pondered. "If we took her on together and as a team, I think we could stand a chance."
"I don't know." Casey was skeptical. "I've seen what she can do - what she will do if we don't stop her. Working together would definitely increase our chances of getting the upper hand, but I'm not sure that that will be enough. I've been thinking..."
The other rangers turned to face her, interested in hearing what she had to say.
"Have you guys ever noticed how Kira seems to be in particularly harsh towards Conner." Casey questioned, she shook her head. "She had me unmorphed, on the ground, barely able to move, and when Conner showed up it was like I wasn't even there anymore. She focused all her attention and efforts on him."
"Earlier, she teleported Conner from the chamber. I understand that that is nearly impossible to do, but she could have taken any one of us." Tommy agreed. "She chose him."
"Right." Casey nodded. "Jake and I did some of our power ranger homework and we found some pretty interesting things. Actually, it involved you, Kat."
Kat looked surprised. "Me?"
"Well, we were up in the command center viewing some power ranger history on the viewing screen, while you guys were gone." Jake continued. "And we found that when Kat was evil, she also had a very specific target."
"Kimberly." Casey added. "To be exact."
"Yeah... But that's different." Tommy told her. "Everything was different."
"Why?" Casey challenged. "Look, Kat was obviously in love with you, or was at the very least insanely attracted to you back when she was evil. Either way she had a connection to you."
Kat seemed to be trying to sink back into the shadows.
"But whatever it was, that is what was getting to her most. It effected her, even when she was evil and had no real control over her actions. Those feelings, feelings that weren't supposed to be a factor in Rita's spell, made her go after Kimberly." Casey continued.
"So you're saying that Kira is in love with Conner?" Tommy asked, making a face that said he thought otherwise.
"No, we didn't say that." Jake shook his head. "I've seen Kira and Conner over the summer. If you would have asked me last year I would have told you you were crazy, but I've seen how they've grown. They're best friends, we all know that. They're close and that's what is getting to her."
"The real Kira is still somewhere inside of this psycho bitch. She just can't remember exactly who she is, and the Psycho part of her doesn't want her to." Casey added. "Her connection to Conner is the only thing that seems to really reach Kira. She's remembering him. I think that gives her strength to fight through the defenses of whatever the hell Syria did to her."
"At least it's the only connection that is strong enough to get Kira to understand and realize who she was before Devone got to her." Jake went on. "The crazy part of her realizes that, and because of it, eliminating Conner is the only reasonable solution. She wants to get rid of the problem and cease the internal struggle that's been taking place. Once she's done that, she'll have full control. There'll be no stopping her."
"That makes sense." Hayley rolled out from under the healing machine. "If Conner and Kira's connection as best friends is the only thing getting to the real Kira, killing Conner would not only prevent Kira from fully remembering who she was, but also make her lose her will to remember. If she succeeds in killing any one of you, she'd never forgive herself. Who's to say that she won't remember everything that she did under Devone's influence when she's brought back to our side? She'd have to live with what she did for the rest of her life. Killing her best friend... it'd devastate her. She won't want to remember. It'd just be easier that way."
"Exactly." Casey agreed, darkly. "She'd lose herself. We've got to stop her before she gets to that point."
"At this point we've just got to stop her." Tommy concluded darkly.
"Kill or be killed..." Jake spoke softly. "Right?"
"I don't want to have to go that far." Tommy answered. "But if we have to..."
Casey looked at Jake and Tommy; her eyes were full of discomfort and disbelief. She shifted her stance, brushing her bangs behind her ears with her fingers.
"What's wrong with you?" Casey asked, shaking her head. When she spoke, her words came out strong and dripped with disgust. That hadn't been what she was suggesting at all. However, she didn't have the chance to finish her thoughts.
"It'd be what Kira would want." Hayley interjected. "If you can't turn her back, then she would want you to stop her the only way you could. We all know that."
Tommy nodded. He'd been in this business a long time. He had been in Kira's very position before.
"No. It doesn't have to be like that." Casey continued. "If we kill her, then we are no better than Devone. That's what sets us apart – our ability to love and have compassion for others. We are different. We can push the limit all we want, but we cannot cross that line. Once we do we can never, ever, go back... It'll all be over. For everyone."
"Sometimes the line gets blurred, Case." Hayley rationalized. She spoke softly and slowly. It pained her to have to look at things in this way, but at this point, what choice did she really have?
Casey shook her head 'no' in disbelief. "I'd rather die a hero than to see myself become the villain."
"Casey's right. We're power rangers. We can't just kill her." Katherine responded. "It isn't right."
"It's only a last resort." Tommy spoke, not completely sure if the two women were wrong.
"No, I couldn't live with that." Kat retorted. "Are you honestly telling me that you could? Any of you?"
"No, of course not." Jake answered her. "It wouldn't be easy and no one should have to take another persons life. But as power rangers we have a duty, a responsibility to protect other people - to protect the world. And if we don't take Kira out then she's going to take us down. Who's going to protect the world from Devone then, huh? More people will only die and live in pain. Sacrifice the one for the many. Even if that means living with the guilt and pain of what we did every single day for the rest of our lives. At least then we would know that we did our jobs – what we had to do – and protected this world with absolutely everything we had."
"So the end justifies the means, huh?" Casey had a nasty taste in her mouth. Even talking about this made her want to vomit. "I think you guys have read a little too much Machiavelli over the summer."
"Look, we'll do anything and everything we can before it comes to that." Tommy said as if that had settled the matter. "She's got the power to defeat us all. I mean, it's bad enough that she's taken Conner out of the picture for a while- "
"I'm not out yet." Came the weak, shaky voice of Conner.
Shocked, the rangers all turned to face their team mate. They hoped that he had not heard all of what they had been discussing. They were all certain that it would only upset him.
"Conner!" Casey grinned. She felt relieved that he had finally woken up.
"Aiy yi yi yi yi!" Alpha placed his hands on his helmet. "Thank goodness you've woken up!"
"Miss me?" Conner smirked, looking at Casey. His face was a still a little red, even after Alpha had used the healing device on him, though it didn't make him look any less adorable.
Casey just smirked, happy that the boy seemed to be OK. Besides, if he had heard them talking, she was positive that he would be siding with her and Kat. "Are you alright?" "I got a killer headache and I'm a little sore, but I'll be OK. At least I should be." Conner answered, trying to sit up, but failing. "I couldn't let you guys or Kira down."
Jake nodded. "We think that you might actually be helping Kira fight against the spell. You're connection as best friends runs deep enough to help her remember who she really is."
"I guess that explains why I keep getting my butt kicked." Conner reasoned. "So what exactly happened to me anyway?"
"Well you ran up to the roof, she kicked your ass, and then pushed you off." Casey answered bluntly.
"Luckily for you, you're not exactly average with being a ranger and all." Kat smiled. "And you had Casey to use as a landing pad."
"She's really sharing the love, ain't she." Conner grimaced, managing to sit up. He rubbed his head, turning to Casey. "Dude, you couldn't have stopped me from smashing my head?"
"See, same old Conner." Casey rolled her eyes.
"Well hey, we're glad you're OK and we hope you get better fast." Tommy told the red ranger. "But it's getting late and I think we should all get home and get some rest."
"Wait." Conner slowly lifted himself up. "I'm coming too."
"No way, Dude." Alpha lightly pushed Conner back down. "You're staying right here."
"Dude, come on." Conner complained. "My bed is so much more comfier than this."
"No, Conner." Kat told him. "Alpha's right. You need to stay here and heal."
"Besides, your parents think you're staying over at my house so if you go home now, they're going to wonder what's up." Jake informed him. "It's going to look kinda suspicious if you go limping into your home."
"Alright, fine." Conner agreed. "But if you guys find out anything- "
"We'll let you know." Tommy told him. "Don't worry."
"And stay away from high places." Casey warned. "You'd think you'd learn by now."
Conner smirked and chucked a pillow at Casey. She winked as the pillow came flying at her, missing her by centimeters as she disappeared in a flash of black. And with that Hayley touched Tommy's shoulder and the others were gone in their respective flashes of color.
"You failed again." Devone said irritatedly. "The red ranger lives, I can sense it."
"I'm sorry, master." Kira turned. "I though he was finished for sure. I should have stayed to make sure that he had died. I won't make that mistake again. Is there something I can do to make it up to you?"
Kira inched in towards Devone. Her body swayed as she walked. Devone simply looked at her lustfully. She sat on his lap and wrapped her arms around his body as she began kissing his neck. His eyes fluttered as he felt her lips on his neck.
"Ugh. I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit." Syria rolled her eyes and gagged at the site.
Did they seriously just not see her standing there? Was she that invisible to her father? She cleared her through loudly as she tried her best to focus on the screen in front of her.
Devone's eyelids snapped open before he reluctantly slid Kira off of him.
"What you can do, is take care of those Power Punks once and for all." He ordered her. "With the red ranger out of commission, the rangers are distracted. Emotions are running high within the team which puts them at their weakest. We attack now, when they least expect it..."
Conner balled up a piece of paper and tossed it at Casey's head. She was sleeping peacefully on a cot a few feet away from him; she had returned during the middle of the night, and Alpha had gotten a bed for her to sleep in. The paper ball bounced off her head.
"Caseeeeey." Conner called. "Wake up! Come on, It's like 10 AM."
"Ugh." Casey groaned pulling her pillow out from under her and placing it over her head. "Shut up, asshat. It's way too early."
Conner gave her a weird look, before looking over to Alpha who was handing Conner a tray of food. She rose her arms up into the air in a shrug, causing Conner to smile. He was definitely feeling a lot better today. He was still sore, but the headache had begun to fade as well as most of the other pain. It was much easier to move than it had been the previous night.
"Thanks Alpha." He salted his scrambled eggs and placed a pile on a piece of toast before taking a large bite.
"You are welcome, Conner." The robot nodded before walking back out of the medical bay.
"Casey, get up." He spoke, his mouth full of bread and eggs. "I'm bored."
Finally, with the smell of breakfast food, Casey pulled her head out from under her pillow and slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes. She looked at Conner sleepily.
"Do you always sleep that late?" He smiled.
"Ugh." Casey mumbled. "Don't start with me."
"OK, so definitely not a morning person." Conner reasoned.
She narrowed her eyes at him as she tried to straighten out her black tank top and align her pink flannel pajama pants correctly. Casey then got up and sat on his bed, making a grab for a piece of his toast. Conner, who had just taken another large bite of food, pulled his plate away before she could take anything.
"Uh uh." He looked at her. "Get your own."
She looked at him, pretending to be angry. She grabbed his milk and took a drink instead.
"Hey." Conner scoffed as Alpha teleported down with another tray of food into her arms.
"Morning Dude-ette!" Alpha greeted, handing the tray off to Casey. "Sausage, Eggs, and toast with milk."
"Thanks Alpha." Casey smiled, still trying to wake up. "It smells great."
"And it tastes even better." Conner agreed, taking a bite of a sausage link.
"Thank you, Casey and Conner." Alpha appreciated the compliment. "I'll be up in the main chamber if you need anything else."
"Alright." Casey acknowledged the tiny robot before she disappeared behind the sliding door. Casey slid her sausage links onto Conner's plate. "Not a big fan of anything pork..."
"That's great news for me, thanks." Conner speared a link and bit into the meat. He swallowed before speaking this time. "So why don't you see if we can get out of here? I have practice this evening and I thought maybe we can try to catch up with Jake or something. Maybe even Hannah. I got the feeling she was a little bummed out about us going to a movie without her yesterday."
"Oh my god." Casey nearly choked on her food as a new realization dawned on her. She jumped up and ran over to her cot. "Hannah."
"What about her?" Conner asked confused as he watched Casey rummaging through her blankets looking for something.
"I left after she was asleep last night and she's probably up by now and freaking out because I'm not there." Casey explained.
Finally, Casey allowed the bedding to fall softly to the ground as she found what she was looking for. She slipped the silver communicator around her wrist and snapped it on before looking at Conner sympathetically.
"I hate to be the one to break it to ya, Conner, but you're going to have to miss practice for today." Casey told him.
"Why?" He asked as if he had forgotten everything that had happened to him within the last twenty-four hours.
"Well lets see, you got your ass kicked by Kira, and she pushed you off a three story high building, unmorphed. Then, you collided with me and smashed your head on my helmet. I think its safe to say that Alpha will have you committed if you even suggest going. She's got you on lock down."
"Good point." Was all he could say, feeling a little disappointed.
"But right now," Casey started. "I've gotta go."
She was gone in a flash of black before Conner could even say goodbye.
Casey climbed up the white, vine covered, lattice that led past the second story window to her bedroom of her home. She reached over and with some effort managed to start to slide the window up, hoping that Hannah wasn't in the room at the moment. No such luck. Casey jumped and quickly grabbed the lattice to maintain her balance as the window slid up forcefully from the other side. Casey's heart was racing, she had thought she was going to fall. Hannah stuck her head out of the window. She was still in her pajamas, and while they were cute - purple pants with yellow ducks and pink stars with a matching spaghetti strap shirt - she looked pissed.
"Hannah, gosh." Casey breathed."You scared the crap out of me."
"Where the hell have you been." Hannah questioned, angrily. She reached her arms out of the window to help pull her sister in.
Once Casey was inside, she shut the window and turned to her younger sister.
"What were you thinking sneaking out?" Hannah went on. "Do you know how scared I was to wake up and have you gone? Especially when theres a rampaging psychopath on the loose out there? The thought of you sneaking out at night and walking to only God knows where and possibly running into that nut job nearly killed me. When I woke up this morning, I think my heart nearly stopped when I saw that you were gone."
Hannah paused for a minute, considering her next words carefully. She sighed.
"Where were you?" She decide was the best way to go. However it came out as less of a question and more of an accusation. "What were you doing?"
Casey looked at her younger sister, knowing where this was going. "Why don't you just ask me what you really want to?"
Hannah hesitated and chose to go in a different direction. "Sneaking out late at night, breaking curfew all the time, disappearing the second I turn my back, what am I supposed to think, Case? It's three years ago all over again."
"Last time I checked you weren't mom." Casey said softly; defensively. "I don't have to answer to you."
"That's odd, because the last time I checked they were dead, Case." Hannah said, she was clenching her jaw together, trying to ignore the aching pain in her heart. She couldn't go through this... not again. Not now. "You're my best friend; my sister...And you are all I have left... I can't lose you too. Not again. Not like that."
Casey breathed. She was hurt but not because of what Hannah was implying or accusing, but because she knew that her younger sister was right. Becoming a power ranger had changed her entire perspective. How could she preach about compassion when she never showed her own sister any? She hadn't stopped to think about how this might effect Hannah. Casey closed her eyes, blinking slowly before looking at Hannah, sincerely. There was a look of pleading and pain in her eyes; a sort of sadness.
"It's – It's not that." She spoke, shakily. She ran her fingers through her hair, stopping when her hands were resting on the top of her head. Her fingers were weaved into the golden locks of hair. "Believe me. It's not that."
"Alright." Hannah nodded, without another thought. Instead, trusting her sister. "If you say that isn't it, then I'll believe you."
Casey looked at her sister, stunned. "Why?" She asked bluntly.
"Because I love you, and we've got to look out for each other, Casey. Plain and simple. That's all I'm trying to do; I'm not trying to be mom or dad or anyone except for me. But we've got to trust each other, like we've always done. Once that's gone..." She trailed off.
"I know, and I get it. I should have told you where I was going last night." Casey agreed.
"You should have." Hannah agreed, a hint of a grin creeping up on her face. She sat down next to her sister and put her arm around her. Casey rested her head on Hannah's and they just sat there for a moment. Casey wanted to tell her everything right then, but knew that she never could or the power would be gone forever. And without the power, she couldn't help her friends save the world. Without the power she couldn't protect Hannah... Eric, Nate, Jake, the rest of the Thomas'... She'd be helpless. So she'd have to bend the truth for now, and she'd have to be more careful when it came to Hannah and breaking curfews. Even with her parents gone, she had people who noticed when she was gone. Finally, Casey broke the silence.
"Conner was hurt in the movie theater last night by that evil power ranger. I lied last night when I told you we left before she got there..." She told her sister. "I went to see him last night and ended up staying over night." Seeing the interested look she was getting from Hannah, she quickly added, "Nothing happened. I just sat there with him. Honestly, I thought I'd be home before you got up."
It wasn't exactly a lie, Casey thought to herself. But it wasn't the whole truth either, which didn't make her feel good.
Hannah, nodded slowly, understanding. "You could have told me, I would have understood."
"I know, and I'm sorry." Casey apologized sincerely. "It was stupid. I didn't mean for you to worry."
"It's cool." Hannah forgave. "Why don't we get ready and go for some ice cream or something."
"Oh." Casey crinkled her forehead in sympathy. "Actually, I was going to help Dr. Oliver move in some of his things into his classroom. He asked if me and Jake, and Kat could help out since he's way behind and I told him that I would."
"Isn't he like thirty?" Hannah wondered.
"Twenty-six." Casey corrected.
Hannah nodded, a weirded out expression on her face. "And you don't find that a little weird? Him hanging out with a bunch of teenagers?"
"Nah." Casey smiled at her sister. "Dr. O's cool. You know, you should come with us. We could use the extra help."
Hannah hesitated once more, and it had nothing to do with working in a classroom a few days before summer vacation came to end. No, Casey knew exactly what it was. It was written all over Hannah's face. "Hannah, you've got to get over this thing you have with Jake." Casey said, practically reading Hannah's mind. "We live in the same town now; you're going to see him around. Especially seeing as how he's my best friend. I can't keep being torn between the two people closest to me."
Hannah rolled her eyes, caving. "I know, I know. It's just so much harder to get over someone when you see them all the time. It's easy to push someone from your mind when you're miles and miles apart."
"I know, and I get that. I do." Casey smirked. "But just try, you know, being friends."
"Because that worked out so well for Brandon and Kelly." Hannah scoffed.
Casey smirked knowingly at the Beverly Hills 90210 reference. She tilted her head and looked at her sister expectantly.
"But I guess it wouldn't kill me to try." Hannah caved.
"Yay!" Casey just smiled.
"Holy crap, Dr. O. What the heck do you have in here?" Jake asked, struggling to carry a medium sized box into his science teachers' classroom. "Rocks?"
He entered through the door way, the muscles in his arms straining to keep a hold of the the box. He slammed the box down onto one of the black topped tables near Tommy's desk. Tommy and Katherine entered the room shortly after, each carrying an assortment of things for his classroom. Jake pulled open the top of the box that he had been carrying, his face falling when he saw what was in it.
"Oh my God, you've got to be kidding me." Jake spoke, raising an eyebrow.
He looked down, seeing many different kinds of rocks varying in shape, size, and color. He was literally carrying a box full of rocks. By themselves, they weren't very heavy at all, but when you put them all together and lifted them all at once, well that was a different story. Jake looked at Tommy.
"You seriously had me carrying rocks." Jake wondered what in the heck Tommy had been thinking.
"They're not just rocks. Look closer." Tommy told him, setting his own things down on his desk.
Kat too sat her things down and the two of them walked over to Jake who had picked one of the larger rocks up. He examined it, noticing for the first time the small imprints embedded into the rough material.
"They're fossils." Tommy smiled. "That one there is a Trilobite, an extinct anthropod from the class Trilobita. They're from the Paleozoic era."
"Nice." Jake commented placing the rock back into the box. He really didn't have that much of an interest in rocks. Even if they were fossils.
"You'll get to take a closer look if you're taking geology as your senior science class." Tommy told him. "I believe you are aren't you?"
"Yeah." Jake nodded. "Ironically, me, Casey, Conner, and Kira are all in the same class."
"It all seems so surreal." Tommy began. "School is right around the corner and we still haven't gotten Kira back."
"Yeah, it's been a few days." Katherine nodded. "I imagine her parents are worried sick."
"Nah." Tommy shook his head. "I called them and told them that Kira was a part of a small group that I had chosen for a young scientist convention. They were a little upset that Kira hadn't talked to them about it first, but they think she's in northern California on a dig with no cell service. It's a lie, but at least they think she's safe."
"And what happens when they see her blowing things up around town?" Jake asked fairly.
"I'm hoping that that doesn't happen." Tommy spoke. "She does the most damaged while she's morphed, so that's keeping her face from the press... for now. We have to get her back soon."
"I wonder if her powers will continue after we've brought her back to our side." Katherine wondered aloud. "I mean, she's way more powerful than any one of us. Devone must have infused a massive amount of dark energy into her powers. Destroying that side of her might-"
"Destroy the powers completely." Tommy finished her sentence.
"Exactly." Kat nodded.
"Man, I hope not." Tommy shook his head. "We could use another ranger in this fight against Devone. He means business... Plus, I know what it's like to have to sit back and watch your friends risk their lives everyday and you can't do anything to help."
Kat placed her hand on Tommy's shoulder, knowingly, just as she had done many years ago. Tommy looked at her and smiled a little. Hayley and the other rangers knew about Tommy's past, but Kat was the only one who could truly understand and know what he had gone through. She was the only one who had actually been there and lived it with him. He was glad that she was around again. He'd missed her comforting touch.
"And if she is able to keep her powers?" Jake questioned. "She might not want them."
"Or feel like she doesn't deserve them." Katherine added. "She's done a lot of damage outside of her control."
"But If the the yellow ranger powers are able to continue after the original power source is disconnected from the evil energy then it's hers." Tommy continued. "Like Zelta said, Kira was meant to be the yellow ranger. We'll get that through to her."
"No, it's not that. I mean, she just might not want them." Jake repeated. "She's planning on moving to New York to record a major record and tour the world if her first single does well."
Kat and Tommy looked at him confused.
"Casey told me." Jake told them. "They found out when they went to the record company just before Kira was captured again. He gave her a week to decide on what she wants to do."
"Recording music is Kira's dream." Tommy responded, knowingly. He sounded a little sad. "I don't know if even being a ranger would stop her from pursuing that. Especially given all that's happened. I'm not sure that it should."
He still remembered what Demitria had done for him, Katherine, Adam, and Tanya as they had approached college and began their adult lives. It wouldn't be fair to keep Kira from having the same chance that they had been given. If and when she wanted to be let go, they had to respect that.
"It'll be her decision." Katherine concluded. "She's the only one who can decide."
Tommy and Jake nodded in agreement.
"Don't tell Conner." Jake told them. "Kira should be the one to do that. I'm pretty sure I was supposed to keep my mouth shut, but it just sorta came up."
They sat there in silence for a moment, thinking. However, it wasn't long before their thoughts were interrupted.
"Hey guys." Casey greeted as she walked into the classroom. Hannah was right behind her. "Dr. O, Kat, this is my little sister Hannah."
"Hey, I'm not that little." Hannah smiled. "I'm almost the same age as you, you dork."
"Almost." Casey smirked. "But I'm still nine months older than you. Almost ten, thus making me the older one and you the little sister."
Hannah just smiled, waving at the two teachers. "Nice to meet you." She looked at Jake and hesitated for a moment. "Hey Jake."
Jake, who had been looking at the ground since he noticed her, looked up surprised. His heart skipped a beat as she had said his name. Was it possible that Hannah actually forgave him for breaking up with her. Had she finally decided that it was possible for them to remain friends if they both worked at it?
"Hey." He grinned.
"Nice to meet you too, Hannah." Katherine smiled at the young blond. "I'm Katherine, though you'll probably know me as Miss Hillard when the school year begins. I believe you're in my advanced sophomore English class?"
Hannah nodded, recognizing her name from her schedule.
"I'm Thomas Oliver." Tommy introduced himself. "The kids usually call me Dr. O."
"And you're in luck." Casey smiled at him. "Hannah's agreed to help out with your classroom. She's real good at organizing and stuff."
"Unlike you." Hannah teased her sister.
"Exactly." She smiled.
"Sounds like another person I know." Kat chided, looking at Tommy.
"Haha." Tommy smiled. "That's great, Hannah. I appreciate the help."
"No problem." Hannah grinned. "Now what can I do?"
"You can help me!" Jake offered, deciding to take full advantage over her adjusted attitude towards him. If she was offering to be his friend, he wasn't going to stop her now.
He lifted up a rock and smiled.
"Ok." Hannah tried to keep her smile as she neared him. "You're supposed to try, so try. Just don't think about it. Friends, you're friends. Rocks?" She questioned him.
"Fossils." Jake corrected. "Trilobites to be exact. They're from the Paleozoic era. Well not all of them, but this one is."
Tommy smiled as he heard his own words repeated back to Hannah. That's something he would have done as a teenager; try to impress a girl by sounding all smart and knowledgeable when really, he had no idea what he was talking about.
"That's cool." Hannah just looked at him with a weird expression. "I think."
Jake smiled at her. Together, they began to pull the fossils from the box and place them in the glass cases (donated by Anton Mercer) in the back of the room.
With the five of them, it didn't take too long to get the room up and ready for classes. In a few hours they were done. Hannah and Jake had finished putting the fossils away as Casey and Kat had put science related posters up all over the room. Hannah had even completely re-organized Tommy's messy lesson plans and filing cabinets full of worksheets with a little help from Katherine. They had all laughed and joked and just really had a fun time together as they worked hard to get Tommy's classroom ready. When the desks were lined up correctly with chairs placed around each of them, and all of Tommy's teaching models and props were placed in their proper areas, it looked like they were finished.
"OW! Jake." Casey's voice traveled into the classroom from the hallway. "That's my foot!"
Hannah looked up from writing on a transparency. She shook her head with a small smile as the voices reached her ears.
"Well if you'd walk a little faster we wouldn't have that problem..." Jake complained.
"Well if you weren't so freaking retarded..." Casey started.
"I swear those two are five years old." The sound of Hannah's voice drowned them out.
She finished making the last seating chart and smiled just as Casey and Jake started to come through the door. They were pushing a model of a Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton, which was miniature compared to the real thing, but stood higher than either Casey or Jake. They were just turning into the doorway when Jake seemed to push too hard which backed Casey into the door frame.
"OUCH, JAKE!" Casey pushed the skeleton forcefully back into Jake.
"OOMPH." He breathed as the model collided with his chest. "Sorry, Case."
"Hey, easy with the model guys. It was a gift." Tommy warned them. "An expensive one."
They straightened the model and pushed it through the doorway carefully. It just barely fit through the door.
"Sorry, Dr. O." Jake apologized. "Where do you want this thing?"
"Here, I got it." Tommy got up and relieved Jake. "Lets just back it back into that corner by the fossil cases, Casey."
"Alright." Casey agreed and the two maneuvered the model into the back of the room.
They positioned it diagonally to make the room look more proportionate, and Tommy began unscrewing the thin metal poles that Casey had held onto. The model was only connected to the one set of poles, the others were placed only for maneuvering purposes. Casey wiped her forehead. The model may have been on wheels, but it was still heavy.
"Where did you get that thing anyway?" Casey asked.
"It was a donation from my buddy, Anton Mercer, as were the fossil cases." Tommy answered. "He's donated a lot to the school. I think he still feels bad about last year."
"What went on last year?" Hannah questioned.
Tommy looked at her. He had forgotten that she had been there.
"Nothing really." He lied. "Just a big misunderstanding. First, one of our students got locked in his museum, then he tried to evict one of my best friends from her cyberspace so that his son could run the place. He was teaching here for a short time while I was on leave, but he left suddenly. The guy just ran into some bad luck. I tried to tell him that it wasn't necessary, giving all these things to us, but he just wouldn't take no for an answer."
"Ah." Hannah understood.
"Thanks again for helping guys." Tommy said sincerely. "I couldn't have done this without you."
"No problem, Tommy." Katherine grinned. "Anything to help."
beep-beep-beepbeep-beep-beep
"What was that?" Hannah asked from behind the desk.
"Oh, it's my- my pager." Tommy lied again. "Hey, I just noticed, I don't have my smart board. Do you think you could go check on that Hannah? Principal Randal is in her office right around the corner."
"Sure." Hannah agreed. She got out of Tommy's chair and left the room just before Tommy's communicator beeped again.
beep-beep-beepbeep-beep-beep
Tommy rose his wrist up to his mouth as the others came closer so that they could hear.
"We read you Alpha." Tommy kept an eye on the door for Hannah's return.
"Tommy, report to the command center with the others as soon as possible. Kira has been flickering on and off the map for the past hour." Alpha's robotic voice came across the line. "If we're going to act, we need to act now."
"Alright, Alpha. We're on our way now." Tommy assured him. "Tommy out."
He lowered his wrist and looked at the others. "Time to go."
They nodded. Casey glanced at the door before they all disappeared in flashes of their respective color, leaving Hannah behind.
Five morphed rangers ran as fast as they could through street after street in search for Kira. They had been running for what seemed like hours, still she was yet to be found, no matter how many times her little blip came across the map. Even Tommy was beginning to wonder if the power chamber was having a glitch... or worse if Devone or Syria had managed to manipulate the tracking device and was leading them straight into a trap. There was no way to be sure, so they continued to run, panting for air beneath their helmets.
The sky darkened with every step they took, as if it knew of the devastation and pain that was about to come. Thick gray clouds covered the sun as a strong, eerie, wind picked up. They ran in silence; the town that had once been so full of life and sound was now empty and quiet. There were no laughing children playing in the park or cars driving down the streets; there were no sounds of adults chatting as they walked down the street or dogs barking for attention. Alpha had already signaled for the Emergency Danger Siren about an hour ago. The alarm had wailed over the town causing civilians to evacuate into several caves on the outskirts of the town, which had been set up as emergency safe-haven type places during last years attacks – The rangers were completely and utterly alone. The Earth merely seemed to stand still as the rangers ran all over town, searching for what could only be the battle of the century. All life and happiness seemed to be sucked out of the world with the disappearance of the sun's bright rays. One thing was for certain, a storm was lurking in the horizon. Darkness was in the air, causing an unbalance in the atmosphere. The sky darkened further as the rangers each slowed, stopping to catch their breath. They stood in front of the high school – right back where they started from. The change in the atmosphere left no doubt in the rangers' minds that Kira was somewhere near.
"This little game of cat and mouse she has us playing is so not cool." Jake wheezed.
"She's around here somewhere." Tommy ensured him. "Don't you feel it? The pressure of the yellow power is absolutely amazing."
"Jealous, aren't you, Tommy?" An unmorphed Kira stepped out from the shadows that grew darker and longer with every second. Soon, they would disappear all together leaving Kira and the rangers alone in total darkness. "You know the only time you've felt a power like this is when you were the green ranger – full of evil and completely indestructible. The power you felt then, the kind I feel now, is unreal; senseless. But lets face it, Tom – that was way back when."
Tommy clenched his jaw together beneath his helmet. The fact was, throughout all his time as a ranger, he had never once even came close to the power that he had as the green ranger. Everything seemed so effortless when he had been under Rita's control. He knew that when you were being manipulated by an evil force, there were no rules; there are no boundaries to hold you back. You simply act and react completely carefree no matter how irrational you may seem. You lose the ability to distinguish right from wrong, instead, feeding on the power and uncertainty of it all – losing yourself in a sense of complete and utter bliss. You feel as if you are on top of the world. It's a feeling that's not easily forgotten, and the same exact one that he was sure Kira was feeling now.
"No." Tommy shook his head. "I'm not jealous. Because no matter how great you feel right now – no matter how much power you have coursing through your veins, one day your going to trip. You will stumble and you are going to fall. And it's then that you will be forced to get a good look at all the devastation and suffering that you have caused - and you will be the only person to blame for it. That guilt and pain will rest on your shoulders and it's something that will never go away. It might not seem like it right now, but there are consequences to your actions, Kira... and there is going to be a time where you're going to have to look back and take responsibility for everything that you have done. The power, it isn't worth it."
Kira forced a yawn. "This isn't science class, Oliver. I don't need a lecture."
"There's no use in talking anymore." Casey spoke up. "She's too far gone. Let's just get this done."
"Some-bodies a lit-tle gruuumpy." Kira bounced her words mockingly.
"And somebody should just shut the hell up." Casey fired angrily. "I'm so bored with these games that you keep playing with us."
The fact of the matter was that they'd been chasing after Kira for over an hour, Hannah was more than likely pissed and wondering where in the world she was, and frankly, Kira's new personality was getting on her every last nerve. She knew how this story ended; she had seen it in one of her visions. She could only hope that this time would be different – that they had done something, anything, to alter the way this fight ended. Her visions had given the rangers an opportunity to change how things had played out; She had come to realize that they were very subjective and likely to change with each decision made – she could only hope that this battle was going to be one of them. Otherwise it was goodnight and goodbye for all of them. Still, knowing what she knew was keeping her very agitated and on edge.
Casey gritted her teeth together and glared at Kira. "It's a fight you're after, so let's just get this thing started so we can beat the hell out of you. Then we can all go home."
"Confidence and anger?" Kira's suit swallowed her body simultaneously, hiding her dark smirk from a very irritated Casey. "Maybe we can work something out, you and I."
"I think not." Casey spat.
"Pity. We could be great together. We'd be stronger than even Devone I suspect. But if you still object, I guess I'll just have to kill you all then. What a waste." Was the last thing Kira said before she lurched into an attack and the rangers finally engaged in battle.
It was more rough than Kira had anticipated. The Fusion powers by far exceeded her expectations, even still, she was coming out on top. The power Devone fused into the already amped up crystal gave her a big advantage. Kira grabbed the black rangers arm and twisted it around behind her back, just as she received a sharp kick in her side delivered by the blue ranger. The white ranger grabbed her arm and tried to get her to release Casey, but no such luck. Kira only tightened her grip and applied more pressure. Casey winced and squirmed feeling like her should was about to be ripped out of its natural place and severely dislocated.
Kira retaliated against the white ranger's attack by sharply elbowing Tommy in the chest and flipping the black ranger around before slamming her into the ground harshly. Casey lay on her back feeling as if she had just slammed into a brick wall going three-hundred miles per hour. The wind had clearly been knocked out of her, and she was finding it very difficult to move. Her shoulder throbbed painfully. Kira never slowed down. She continued her attack on the other three rangers, punching and kicking with full force. Tommy, Katherine, and Jake blocked her attacks to the best of their abilities, but they were finding it difficult to get back onto the offense due to Kira's speed.
Kat delivered a swift kick to Kira's side simultaneous with Jake's sweep kick. Kira avoided being knocked on her behind as she jumped over Jake's attack, but couldn't stop herself from being jerked sideways from Katherine's attack. The white ranger took advantage of the situation by spin kicking, his boot connecting just below Kira's chin. The yellow ranger flew backwards, but quickly thrust herself forward and back on her feet in no time.
Casey had finally managed to get up and had rejoined the other rangers in the battle, still clutching her side and trying to ignore the pain in her shoulder.
"Arm Blades!" The yellow ranger charged back into battle, practically slicing and dicing the other rangers.
Sparks sprayed from each of the rangers; they each stumbled backwards trying to regain their balance as Kira's sharp black blades cut into deep into their armored bodies. They held their chests and arms, their bodies feeling the heat caused by the friction from the contact of the jagged blades and their power suits.
Tommy ducked as Kira continued on, her blade just millimeters away from beheading him. She swung around one of her blades coming straight at him.
"Ryu!" Tommy jerked his dragon sword from it's holster.
He just barely pulled Ryu up in time to block the attack. The force from her swing caused him to slide back about three feet before he came to a complete stop. He maneuvered his blade in a half circle motion in order to force her blade into a less threatening position, however, in doing this, he had forgotten about the second blade, which she then used to place a sharp jab into his clavicle. Tommy stumbled backwards, losing his balance and falling harshly to the ground. He rolled completely backwards, landing on his knees, his sword in the ready position.
The next attack against Kira, however, was not dealt from Tommy, but the other three rangers instead. The three had fired their weapons at the same precise moment, sending the blue rangers danger-rang, the pink rangers arrow, and the black rangers laser all coming at Kira from the same direction. Kira smirked behind her helmet, deflecting the arrow and the laser with her blades. The dagger-rang, however, had taken an unexpected curve and came back around smashing the yellow ranger in the back. She stumbled forward, only to be sliced by a set of red lasers, shot from Ryu's eyes.
Kira grumbled from beneath her helmet, angry that she had made a mistake. She dodge rolled barely escaping another laser fired from Casey's cannon. She twisted around on her feet pausing in a defensive position. She charged towards her four targets, dodging and deflecting their simultaneous attacks. She reach Jake first, delivering a sharp uppercut attack from one of her blades. Jake ducked and twisted, narrowly escaping her forceful attacks. The other rangers had ceased fire on Kira, for fear of hitting the blue ranger by mistake, and were instead running to join their comrade in battle. Kat grabbed Kira's shoulder, jerking her backwards, and pulling her away from Jake. Kira spun around in a circle, slashing every one of the rangers. They all flew backwards sending them crashing into the ground once more.
Conner winced as he watched his friends slam into the pavement... again. Every muscle in his body had tensed up. His arms were crossed; the knuckles on his right hand had begun turning white for his hand squeezed his flexed muscle nervously. His jaw was clenched tightly together, his eyes never leaving the screen in the front of the command center.
"I've got to do something." He mumbled to no one in particular. "They're getting whomped on out there."
"Aiy yi yi yi yi. I wish you could." Alpha spoke. "But in your condition, going up against Kira would be pure suicide!"
Conner only glared at the screen in response. He was so angry with himself for getting hurt and not being able to help his friends when they needed him the most.
"I'm not completely useless, Alpha." Conner responded. "I may not be able to defeat her, but I can definitely slow her down. Besides, you healed me."
"Yeah, but your body has been through a major amount of trauma." Alpha explained. "The healing device only changes the appearance of wounds and the major injuries. You cannot honestly tell me that you do not feel sore and worn out from your previous battle with Kira. We don't even know if you can morph."
She was right of course, but Conner wasn't about to let a few bumps and bruises stop him.
"I have to try." Conner spoke as Kat was thrown through the air like a rag doll. Conner winced once again as she smashed into the side of a building and tumbled to the ground. Shakily, the pink ranger rose, clutching her chest and panting for air.
"Give them a little more time, Conner. You must have faith that they can succeed." Zelta appeared in her tube. "If they absolutely need you, then we will not stop you from going to aid our friends. But for now you are injured and will only create a bigger problem for the rangers."
Conner scowled. "Fine. I'll give them a little more time, but after that, I'm going." Something told him he wasn't getting out of here without Zelta and Alpha's blessing anyway.
Jake yelled out in pain as he was lifted off the ground as Kira's knee collided with his stomach. His feet had no sooner touched the ground before she hit him again. In his doubled over position, she delivered a strong blow to his back with a fierce swipe of her blade. He tumbled down to the pavement groaning in pain. He lay on the cement, barely able to move, feeling as if his body had been snapped into two. He wanted to cry, but the tears wouldn't seem to come. He was too infuriated and irritated with how this battle was going turning out to break down now. He squirmed, trying to bring himself to his feet, but couldn't quite seem to find the strength. He collapsed back onto the ground, trying to catch his breath. His suit flickered once before going out completely. Too much damage had been dealt. He wanted to remorph, but he wasn't able to move enough. He winced as Kira came at him once more, knowing of the pain that she was about to cause him.
However, it was Tommy that was next in Kira's chain of attacks as the white ranger swiftly moved into battle intercepting Kira's attack on Jake with his own sword. The metal clashed together roughly, sparks showering all around them. He spun and dodged her double blade attacks, defending himself the best he could with his single sword. Ryu delivered several laser attacks on Tommy's command, but Kira was ready this time, and deflected them almost easily with her free sword, blocking Tommy's blade with the other. Kat tried to distract Kira with several blows of her own, but no such luck. The fact of the matter was Kira was ultimately faster, stronger, and absolutely out of control. She fought dirty with the intent to kill. That much was clear.
"No, Kat." Tommy panted. "Go help Jake with Casey. I can't keep her away from him much longer."
"Tommy -" Katherine began.
"I'll be fine." Tommy cut her off. "Go help him get up."
Katherine just nodded and moved around Tommy to help the blue ranger to safety with Casey who was already there. She had just barely gotten him to his feet when the pink ranger hurried to position herself under Jake's arm. They moved several feet away from where Tommy and Kira were engaged in battle once more. Jake winced as he tried to recollect himself. They were all feeling an incredibly intense amount of pain – Kira had gotten them all pretty good with her blades. They were hurting and down a ranger... two if you could count Kira. They were a team of six cut down to four, and Kira seemed to be never weakening.
One of Kira's blades managed to get past Tommy, coming down hard on Tommy's shoulder and slicing diagonally clear down to his waist. The white ranger's knees seemed to buckle upon impact of the blade – the armor of his suit gave a little as a thin dark crack now presented itself diagonally across his chest plate. Tommy stumbled backwards, clutching Ryu tightly in his hands. He swiftly bent himself backwards on his feet, avoiding Kira's second assault before twisting around and taking a hold of the yellow rangers suit (where the neck meets the armored chest piece) and jerking her backwards.
Kira felt her small body being lifted from the ground as he pulled her backwards and clear up off her feet. She grabbed onto his arm, trying to get him to release her, but she couldn't get him to release his grip fast enough as e swung her upright before jerking her downward and slamming the yellow ranger hard into the cement. The ground split and cracked beneath her back.
With Kat and Casey's help, Jake had finally gotten back on his feet, and was morphed back into the blue ranger. All four of them were panting and struggling to stay in the fight. Everyone was wearing down, even Kira, that much was evident. They had been fighting for what seemed like hours upon hours, and were tiring more and more with every passing second. It was clear now that Kira was not going to be able to break through the walls and defenses Syria and Devone had placed deep within her. At least not on her own.
They needed to talk to her – help her to remember all the time they had spent together before things got so messed up between them. What they needed was time and a way to restrain Kira long enough for them to get through to her and let her know that they were still fighting for her, not against her.
Tommy used every ounce of strength in his body to keep Kira pinned to the pavement. His hands held her wrists to the ground as he practically shifted all his weight onto her, trying to hold her down. His chest rested upon hers as he lay diagonally across her. He wanted to take off their helmets so they could see each other without the tinted black glass between them, but he knew the second that he did that it would be all over for him. She was struggling beneath him, trying to break free from his vice-like grip. She was using her free legs to knee him harshly in the side. He winced, but managed to keep her pinned.
"Come on, Kira." Tommy pleaded through gritted teeth. "You gotta fight this before you force us to do something we'll all regret."
"Get off of me, you overgrown meat head!" Kira insulted him.
Kat was the first to reach the yellow and white rangers. She immediately grabbed Kira's legs and restrained them to the best of her ability. Casey came to Kat's aid the second she reached them. Jake took a hold of Kira's wrists allowing Tommy to slide his own hands down to her biceps restraining her further.
"Damn it, Kira!" Tommy cursed, frustration overcoming him. She was still squirming – trying to find any weakness in the chain of rangers that now pinned her to the ground.
"A Steel body restraint would be nice right about now." Casey growled through gritted teeth.
"Don't let go!" Tommy commanded. "Come on Kira, you have to remember last year. Remember Mesagog and being the yellow ranger? You fought with me, Conner, Ethan, and Trent, for good not evil."
"Shut up and get the hell off of me!" Kira tried kicking a leg free. Casey jerked forward and almost head butted Kat, but she never let go.
"Kira, don't be stubborn, I know you're in there somewhere." Jake added. "Freshman year – I was playing my guitar and you just marched right up to me and told me I was doing it wrong. Where's that girl at? Where are you hiding her?"
Casey and Katherine stayed silent as they struggled to keep the yellow ranger down. It wasn't working, Kira was just getting more agitated with them. They could all tell, but weren't ready to give up just yet... at least most of them weren't. Casey was about five seconds from jumping up and fighting face to face with Kira once and for all.
"I SAID SHUT. UP!" Kira began extremely agitated. She was beyond angry now. "AND GET. THE HELL. OFF. OF. ME!"
No one could have been prepared for what came next. As soon as the word 'me' had escaped her lips, bright, searing, yellow bolts of electricity radiated out of her armored body The bolts rose several feet before arching back down to the ground. They moved hungrily, electrocuting – completely frying – anything in their paths, including the rangers. The four multicolored rangers were lifted from the ground and thrown several feet into the air before crashing back into the pavement nearly 30 feet away. The rangers panted and winced as they all struggled to get back up. Their hearts raced with a mixture of shock and pain. Casey was on the verge of tears; not because she was in a lot of pain, well that was part of it, as well as being flat out scared. It was mostly just because of the intense range of emotions her body was feeling all at once. Losing this battle was looking like a real possibility at this point. She was beginning to wonder if her visions were so subjective after all.
"Ok, What the hell was that?" Casey asked, trying to regain the feeling in her body. The electrical shock seemed to have numbed her a bit, which was actually helpful when it came to the pain in her shoulder.
Jake was shaking slightly from the blast as he observed the wrecked ground below them. The pavement was completely destroyed. Deep craters littered the once smooth pavement, and debris from the blast covered the ground. The sky was completely dark now, and the storm was seconds from making the sky explode with rain, thunder, and lightning. Tommy was rubbing his neck and arms as Katherine held her side tenderly. They all glared in the same direction – The smoke from the blast cleared revealing the yellow ranger standing thirty feet away. The blades that had hung from her arms were gone now – a new, but equally dangerous (if not more so), threat in it's place. The yellow ranger panted one foot in front of the other. Her chin was tucked in as she glared at the other rangers. Her elbows were bent, holding her hands outward. Her palms faced upward as a dark, glowing, yellow energy flowed all around each hand making her look even more crazed and threatening than before.
Tommy quickly grabbed Ryu from off the ground nearby. He had dropped it sometime during the electrocution. He stood in a readied stance, preparing himself for Kira's attack. It was her move. The other three rangers stood tensed in a sort of V formation behind Tommy. Their weapons had been dropped earlier in the battle and far away from where they had stood.
Kira snarled and grunted as she began thrusting energy balls and streaks of lightning towards the rangers as they charged forward. They jumped and ducked; dodge rolled and maneuvered around Kira's attacks to the best of their ability. Casey was hit first – an energy ball to the stomach which knocked her flat onto her back and sent her rolling across the ground. In retaliation, Jake flipped over an energy ball aimed at his chest and jumped high into the air with the intention of delivering a boot to Kira's helmeted face. However, she got the better of Jake by sending a streak of lightning towards him in mid air. The bolt collided with his body sending him spiraling through the air and plummeting back to the rocky ground. His back landed on a jagged rock before sliding off onto the ground, wincing in incredible pain. Once again he found himself feeling as if he was slowly being ripped into two pieces.
Kat and Tommy managed to make it through the hazardous maze of electricity a began attacking the yellow ranger. Being in such close proximity didn't help Kat or Tommy; it made it much more difficult to dodge Kira's electrical attacks at such a close range. They often found themselves getting a big shock as they delivered their kicks and punches to the yellow ranger. Kira grabbed a hold of Katherine's fist and twisted it around before kneeing her sharply in the stomach repeatedly. Katherine staggered backward. She stood up only to be roughly punched across the helmet. The pink ranger fell to the ground, as the white ranger raced to her aid, he pulled Kira away from her, diverting her attention to him instead. Kira thrust her arm forward sending a streak of energy towards the white ranger. Tommy was ready for her this time though, pulling his sword forward and deflecting the energy. The blast was absorbed into the ground, but he had been momentarily distracted.
Tommy crinkled his forehead in confusion as Kira slowly began to spin around, one leg rose up to her knee. Tommy took a step backward shoving Ryu back into his holster as Katherine began scooting away from the spinning yellow ranger. Jake and Casey weakly lifted their heads up from the ground watching Kira completely horrified at what was to come. She was spinning faster now; electricity flickered all around her.
Tommy wasn't sure what to do, but he knew he had to do something. He may not have known what Kira was up to, but he was sure that whatever it was, it was going to be devastating, and he had to do something, anything, to stop it from happening.
Kira continued to spin as she began to rise off her feet and into the air. She was spinning so fast now that she appeared to be almost nothing but a gray blur with yellow and black streaks of electricity flickering menacingly all around her. The rangers didn't move, each of them staring up at the tornado formerly known as Kira Ford.
Tommy made an impulse decision, tearing his sword from his holster and looking darkly to the blur in the sky.
"White Water Rush!" Tommy yelled out the special attack that he had discovered earlier.
He tossed Ryu into the air, flipping the sword around and catching it once more so that the dragon's head faced upward and the blade downward. There was no use throwing him at the target now, he was sure the sword would just be deflected off of the yellow ranger, screwing up the entire attack... an attack that was sure to damage the yellow ranger and likely hurt – possibly kill – Kira in the process. The white ranger folded and crossed his arms tightly against his chest and rapidly began spinning and rising into the air.
Kira went higher; the electricity around her seemed to be brighter and more searing than before. There was definitely more of it now. The sky was nearly jet black.
Tommy stopped spinning and unfolded his arms and put them in the position to form the white energy ball; the heart of his attack.
Kira was positively glowing with a mixture of bright yellow and white electricity. The dark gray blur of her spin just barely broke through the glow.
The white ranger moved his hands and arms around the ball; water seemed to be forming all around it in an extremely immanent way.
Then, Kira suddenly stopped spinning. Her arms were extended, just barely arched. Her palms were facing upward. Her gaze turned up to the blackened sky.
Tommy pulled his arms backward, preparing to thrust his attack at the yellow ranger.
And then... the sky exploded.
Simultaneously, the yellow and white rangers made their attacks. Tommy thrust his right arm outwards guiding his attack towards the yellow ranger. The ball of water blazed a blinding white color as it shot violently towards the yellow ranger; streaks of white energy broke away and weaved around the ball. At the exact same moment, lightning came crashing down to Earth, striking all around the rangers. The powerful strikes smashed into the ground ferociously, hitting and destroying everything within a mile radius – including the high school. The buildings were demolished as the bolts split the structures into pieces; the ground was smashed in – craters forming all around them. The searing hot attack set fire to the debris-littered ground as well as the high school – what was left of it anyway.
It was an attack that was impossible for the rangers to evade. Everyone was hit, and they were hit hard. The rangers gritted their teeth together and clenched their muscles tightly trying to keep from screaming out in pain as their bodies were put through an immense amount of pain – pain like none of them have ever felt before. Casey, Jake, and Katherine were struck time and time again, as they lay on the ground helpless to make any attempt at freeing themselves from the pain the lightning was now causing them. Tommy was knocked out of the air. He tumbled to the ground falling just inches from the pink ranger, both of which were painting and groaning in pure agony. The rangers were trying their best to endure the pain and not break down. Even so, Tommy winced, panted and wheezed from beneath his helmet. He could hear Casey's quiet squeals of misery; Jakes muffled cry and Kat's shriek of affliction...
Fortunately, Tommy wasn't the only ranger who fell from the sky. Kira, too, had been hit full on by Tommy's water attack and was now tumbling through the air, free from her own attack, but still feeling pain as she fell into a shallow crater.
Once the yellow ranger hit the dirt, the lightning attack came to an immediate stop. An overwhelming silence overcame the battlefield as all five of the rangers lay on the ground completely still in unconsciousness. One by one their suits disintegrated from their bodies. Tommy and Kat's went first as they had been hit the hardest – they had been the closest to Kira when she had unleashed the powerful attack. The blue ranger's suit faded next, followed shortly after by Casey's. Finally, Kira's suit flickered once before going out completely.
"Oooh." Casey groaned. She felt incredibly sore but couldn't remember exactly why at the moment. All she knew was that she didn't particularly want to move at the moment.
Something was hitting the side of her face – something wet. Her eyes fluttered open as the sound of rain hitting the ground below her filled her ears. The storm that had been lurking around since the beginning of the battle had finally come. Rain poured from the sky; the sound of thunder crashing through the silence. Casey was suddenly fully alert as she remembered exactly where she was, recalling the battle that had just been fought.
Casey struggled to get to her feet, but she managed. She wore a worried look upon her face as she held her arm and quickly made her way over to Jake. She bent over the boy dressed in blue and discovered that he was still breathing. An immense amount of relief washed over her face. She brushed his now wet hair out of his eyes and turned. She sloshed in her converse as she jogged over to check on Tommy and Katherine. Her body was already soaked with water and her hair was dripping with water; drops of rain drizzled down her face. She squinted in the rain as she reached the remaining two rangers. They, too, were breathing.
"Now for the hard part." Casey thought to herself.
She cautiously looked around for Kira Ford scared of what she might find. Things were beginning to look all too familiar to her... after all, it had come down to this in her vision. It had been her and Kira, and Casey hadn't exactly come out on top in that particular battle.
Casey walked on slipping and sliding on a mixture of loose, wet, rock and mud. The eerie silence was really getting to her now. At least when everyone was conscious there were the sounds of fighting and countless attacks to fill it. Casey shivered not being able to hold back the tears that fell from her eyes. She could do nothing to stop them, that much she knew. She was just the kind of girl who cried when she got extremely upset or overwhelmed. She was cold and scared; wondering if her dream was about to become a reality. If so, her time was about up. Casey scraped her hands and knees as she lost her footing on a piece of rock. She lost her balance and fell to the ground. A sharp, jabbing, pain shot through her arm and up to her shoulder as she stopped herself from face planting. Her arm give a little upon impact, but she managed to stay upright. She pushed herself back onto her feet ignoring the sting in both her palms and knees as she continued to look for her fallen comrade.
Surely Kira had fallen too? There was no other way that her attack would have come to a halt otherwise. They'd all be dead now. The tears faded, and she wiped her eyes as she cautiously approached the crater into which she was sure Kira had to have fallen. Casey hesitated before looking into the dark pit, wondering about what exactly she was going to find. She took a deep breath and peeked over the brink of the crevice, crinkling her forehead in confusion at what she saw. The crater was empty save for rubble and debris. Kira was no where in sight.
"Looking for me?" Kira's dark voice asked from behind. She tapped Casey on the shoulder.
Kira's touch sent a trickle of terror down Casey's entire body. She whirled around to face her former friend, almost losing her balance on the edge of the crater.
"Ah!" Casey breathed. She nearly tumbled down into the pit, but Kira caught her by the top of her shirt preventing her fall.
Kira smirked at Casey's terrified expression before pulling her harshly forward and tossing her to the ground as if it were nothing. They were both completely soaked; dripping wet from head to toe. The rain fell harder still.
"Oh shit." Was all Casey could manage to say before Kira stalked after her.
She scooted back, trying to get away, but Kira only got closer.
"Come on, Kira." Casey tried to reason as she continued sliding backwards. She knew it was hopeless, but needed a distraction nonetheless. It was worth a shot. "Can't we talk about this?"
"Sorry." Kira began angrily; she was past jokes and toying around now. She tried to stomp on Casey but Casey swiftly rolled away and out of harms way. "I'm all talked out."
Casey was on her feet now about twenty feet away from Kira. She had her arms and fists up defensively, and stared into the eyes of a girl she no longer recognized. There was no way around this.
"And then there was one." Kira smirked at the girl in black. "Are you seriously going to fight me now? You'll end up just like your friends. Surely even you know that."
Now, it was Casey's turn to smirk. She was beyond scared. She had moved onto fierceness and determination.
"Is that what you think?" Casey shook her head. "That they're dead?"
Kira's face fell as she looked at Casey wonderingly; as if she was trying to analyze her face – trying to decide if Casey was lying or not.
"That makes twice now that you've let us escape with our lives when we should have been dead. You seriously need to start taking a closer look at your victims, Kira." Casey strained her voice trying to speak over the sound of the pounding rain. "Because if you did, you'd see that they aren't dead. Not yet. Not ever if I have anything to say about it."
"Makes no difference." Kira shrugged, regaining her composure. "You? You're a joke. I'll start with you, and then when I'm all finished, I'll move onto you're friends. It makes it hard to fight back when you're unconscious. Something tells me they won't be breathing for too much longer. Why don't you just give up and make this all a little easier on both of us? I promise I'll make it quick."
Casey merely glared and reset her footing. She was now in a fighting stance and ready.
"Fine. Have it you're way." Kira spoke. "But I warn you; I will make you suffer."
And with that, they closed the gap between each other and engaged in battle.
Conner turned away not being able stare at the screen any longer. He was angry and irritated... tired of having to watch his friends get hurt over and over again by someone they used to call their friend.
"Alpha, I've got to go." Conner spoke strongly to the tiny robot. It was a statement, not a question.
"But, Conner -" Alpha began.
"No buts, Alpha!" Conner yelled. His temper was getting the best of him. "I'm going. You said it yourself. If they need me, I could go. Well, they need me, and I am going."
"But -" Alpha started again.
Conner through his arms up in irritation as he turned away from the small robot.
"Conner is right, Alpha." Zelta spoke, settling the matter. "Our friends are in grave peril and they need their red ranger to help if there is any hope for survival."
"But what if he can't morph!" Alpha stressed out.
"It doesn't matter!" Conner retaliated. "I have to do something! If it comes to that, and I can't morph, at least I know I did all that I could to protect the Earth and my friends. If anything happened to them and all I did was stand here and watch... I couldn't live with that. Besides, it's been hours since I was attacked. I'll be fine."
"Kira and the other rangers were put through an extremely strenuous amount of pain and damage with Kira's lightning storm and Tommy's water attack. I do not believe that any of them are able to morph at the moment. Even if Kira could manage to morph, she would not be able to hold onto that power for very long. Even so, she is very strong Conner. Devone has fused a lot of his own power into her body. It will be difficult to overpower her."
Conner nodded gratefully at Zelta.
"Be careful, red ranger." Alpha gave in.
The battle was long and very... wet. The rain poured down onto them, making it much more difficult to see and make contact with the other. Still, they managed. Kira punched fiercely at Casey who threw her arms up in defense. They were crossed in front of her face when Kira's fist made impact. She winced; the bones in her forearms stung and she faltered slightly backwards as she pushed Kira's arm away from her. Casey moved her head to avoid another of Kira's attack. She grabbed Kira's arm in retaliation and twisted it around so that Kira could not use it for a further attack. Casey lifted her leg and moved slightly forward, trying to avoid being kneed by Kira, but failed. She was kneed in the rear, and while it didn't hurt near as much as it would have had she gotten hit in the leg, Casey's grip on Kira's arm loosened enough to allow Kira to pull away. Kira spun around, moving backwards to find a better angle at which to attack her opponent.
Kira kicked up high, but Casey once again rose her arms to block the attack before sending a kick of her own in Kira's direction. Kira blocked the attack and retaliated once more with a series of punches and kicks. Casey tried to avoid them all, but Kira was a more experienced and better fighter than her, and it showed. Devone's power definitely ran beyond the morphed version of the yellow ranger. Casey winced in pain as she was kicked and punched repeatedly, still not willing to give up, no matter how much pain she was in; she could already feel the bruises forming on her now tender skin. She felt her lip split open; she tasted the blood that was now filling her mouth.
Angry, she stopped trying to block everything and focused on what her next attack was going to be, sending a strong punch at Kira. She missed at first as Kira threw her arms up to block the punch, but quickly recovered and started swinging punches, putting Kira on the defense instead. Finally, she broke through Kira's guard, striking Kira very hard on the cheek. The ring she was wearing must have caught Kira's skin, because when Casey pulled her hand away, she was bleeding. Dazed for a moment, Casey hopped to one foot, kicking Kira sharply in the side. Kira stumbled, shooting a death glare at Casey as she fell to one knee and regained her balance. The kick had clearly knocked her out of her daze, and she was now on her feet, angrily pursuing Casey.
The two fought like that for a while – sloshing around on the puddled ground. Casey fell down several times just narrowly avoiding Kira's fierce blows. It was very clear now that they were both fighting to kill – anything it took to stop the other. Casey was on the ground when Kira snatched up a large piece of rock, preparing to deliver what would have been a very violent blow to Casey's head had she not swung her leg around and hit Kira sharply behind the knees, knocking her off her feet. The rock fell inches away from Casey as Kira slammed into ground next to her with a splash.
Slightly dazed from the impact, Kira tried to catch her breath, but she found herself temporarily unable to move very much at the moment. Casey seized the opportunity and took advantage of Kira's momentary lapse in attack. She latched onto the neck of Kira's shirt and yanked her upwards before pulling back her fist and smashing it straight into Kira's face. Kira's faced jerked with the motion, blood spilling out of her nose. Casey was about to attack again, but the punch had knocked Kira out of her daze. She had recovered and quickly kneed Casey ferociously in the side before she could be punched again. Casey jerked sideways and fell slightly backwards as Kira's knee crushed into her rib cage. Kira maneuvered her legs and levered Casey away from her so that she could move more freely. Casey got onto one knee, but Kira was already ahead of her. She thrust herself upwards, diving at the black ranger, and getting her arm around Casey's neck and squeezing tightly. Kira rose to her feet, roughly pulling Casey up with her. She scratched and clawed at Kira's arm, trying to get her to loosen her grip, but to no avail.
Casey was having a difficult time breathing as Kira squeezed harder still. She was just beginning to see spots when she heard a loud smacking sound and was suddenly released. She felt very confused as oxygen rushed into her body. Her head spun. She was beginning to wonder if she had heard wrong and really her neck had been snapped but she was just too numb from lack of oxygen to really feel it. Or maybe she was just dead.
Casey collapsed to the ground, falling onto her hands and knees. Nope, she was still breathing; her neck was fine. Now that she could breath properly, she realized that it was definitely a smacking sound she had heard. She tried to catch her breath before looking back to see what had actually happened. Slowly, she collapsed in such a way that she was laying on her back, propped up with her elbow and holding her head up so that she could see what was going on.
It was evident what had occurred the second she had turned around. Kira had stumbled sideways when Jake's fist had collided with her cheek – the impact had created the smacking sound. Kira was surprised by his attack, which is why she had been released. Casey stopped trying to hold herself up and collapsed onto the ground, panting deeply. Her hands were cut and brushed; scratched and colored red with a mixture of Kira and her own blood. Her entire body ached as if she had been put inside of a trash compactor and someone kept pressing the compacting button over and over again. She wondered if there was going to be any part of her body that wasn't black and blue tomorrow morning... if she lived to see tomorrow that was. Casey took one last deep breath. She had to get up or Jake was going to die.
The boy in blue stood weakly as Kira turned her sights onto him. She stared at him menacingly. He looked utterly exhausted. Jake tried to fight, but he wasn't prepared or strong enough to even attempt to defend himself against the rampaging Kira. Casey got to her feet to try and help Jake as fast as she could, but Kira was already attacking him. It really wasn't much of a fight. Actually, it looked more like she was using Jake as her new punching bag more than anything else.
Kira delivered a harsh blow to Jake's face in retaliation to his attack, before then kneeing him in the stomach causing him to double over. He stumbled and groaned in pain as she latched onto him and continued to knee him repeatedly, hitting him harder each time. Kira pulled him up and pushed him backwards before giving him a good, strong, kick between his legs. He stumbled in pain, nearly falling once more. Kira stalked after him so that she could hit him again. Jake jerked backwards as her knuckles collided with his face. His knees buckled from beneath him, and he fell to the ground moaning weakly in pain.
Before Kira could attack him again, Casey grabbed a fistful of Kira's hair and jerked her backwards. This time it was she who forced Kira to the ground. Jake had saved her a moment ago, and she was going to do anything and everything to protect her best friend as he did for her. Their fight became sort of a blur of movements as they both scratched and pulled each others hair; kicked and punched, and kneed and elbowed – basically just trying to make contact. The ground was slippery and they were both covered from head to toe in mud which made it even more difficult to fight one another and stay on their feet. Eventually, they gave up on even trying.
Kira was positioned on top of Casey when she grabbed her shirt, pulled her up and then slammed her back into the ground. Casey tried to blink the water out of her eyes. She wasn't sure if her hair was just wet and caked with mud or if it were bleeding. In desperation, Casey flung her hands up and around Kira's neck, trying to stop Kira from pounding her head into the pavement anymore. Kira did the same in retaliation. Casey gritted her teeth together and squeezed as hard as she could. Kira's grip was stronger – If she didn't do something fast, she was going to die of suffocation.
Casey used her weight to slide Kira off of her so that she was no longer crushing her into the ground. She squirmed closer to Kira and winced, even before she head butted Kira as hard as she could. Casey held her forehead in pain as she rolled and scooted away from Kira who was also holding her own head. Things weren't playing out the same as she had seen in her vision, but were things really so different? Was the ending going to change at all?
Casey leaned up against a tree, her breathing staggered. Her body was bruised and battered leaving her feeling incredibly weak and exhausted. She wanted to close her eyes right then and there and doze off for hours and hours. However, Kira wasn't going to let that happen. Casey sighed and quickly moved away from the tree as Kira's punch came at her face. She wrapped her arms around Kira and pushed her back. Kira sharply elbowed Casey in the back causing her to collapse briefly. She rolled away and avoided being elbowed again.
"You know what I'm going to do when I finish you off?" Kira questioned grabbing a hold of Casey and smashing her back into the tree. She punched her fiercely in the face. Casey sat there dazed and weak. Her eye was already turning a tender shade of pink as she sat there feeling weak and helpless. Kira's voice was soft and taunting; she was sneering as she toyed with a strand of her wet hair.
"I'm gonna kill you're friends over there. Starting with the blue one – he is rather annoying. Then the the other two." She licked her lips. Her eyes flickered away from the strand of hair she was playing with and upward to look Casey directly in the eyes. "And then, then I'm going to kill your little sister. Hannah wasn't it?"
That's all it took for Casey to find the strength within her to turn the tables and keep on fighting. Kira had gone way too far. Casey flung herself up and delivered a hard punch to Kira's face, completely out of control. She wasn't exactly sure how it happened, but with newfound adrenalin pumping through her veins, she managed to overturn Kira and force her onto her back before laying a hard punch into her face.
She held Kira by the neck with one hand and pulled back her fist. She slugged Kira as hard as she could, before pulling her fist back to punch her again, and again, and again as hard as she could possibly manage. It didn't matter that her hand ached with pain as her hand collided with the bones in Kira's face – she was completely numb. Blood spilled out of Kira's nose, mouth, and cheeks, covering Casey's hand and arm. This time, it had nothing to do with the ring on Casey's finger, but her solid, iron punches. Still, she didn't stop.
"Just DIE. YOU. FUCKING. BITCH!" Casey said through gritted teeth. She didn't notice her skin ripping apart at her knuckles. She shook violently with anger.
Kira was finding it difficult to stay conscious. Who knew that the black ranger possessed this much strength? She had sensed something, but never would have guessed that Casey would have made it this far into the battle. She had definitely underestimated the girl – possibly more so than any one of the other rangers. Kira flinched as Casey hit her yet again, but came to her senses and attempted to swing her body around so that she would no longer be forced to the ground. It didn't have the exact effect that Kira would have hoped for, but it did throw Casey off of her enough so that Kira could roll away. For a moment, they both just lay there, breathing, about three or four feet apart. Casey was on her stomach, and Kira lay on her back.
Casey's sudden outburst was evidently short lived as what little energy she had left was fading fast. She was more exhausted now than she had been before. Slowly, she tried to crawl over to where Kira was laying, obviously trying to regulate her breathing and find the strength to get on her feet. Casey couldn't find that strength. She had just made it over to where Kira was when Kira began to stand up. Casey tried to pull Kira back down by her legs, but it was merely a tug. Her strength was gone. Kira jerked her leg away, spitting blood from her mouth. She just stared for a moment at the girl too helpless to even stand. A look of disgust covered her face, yet somehow she seemed to have a twinge of respect in her eyes. After all, Casey had come this far. Still, she wore the look of intense hate for posing such an issue for her.
Their clothes were ripped in several places where the two had either tore at trying to get to each other or where they had snagged against the ground or rocks while fighting. They were sobbing wet, both covered in blood, though whose blood was where couldn't possibly be determined anymore. Bruised and battered... weak and numb from cold and exhaustion, Kira panted. Her heart raced as Casey lay on the ground, her eyes on Kira.
"This must be it." Casey thought to herself. She was all out of energy now. "Sorry, guys. I tried. I wasn't good enough."
Kira kicked her in the face with every ounce of energy she had left. Casey felt her nose break, but did nothing as the blood spewed out all over her face and onto the ground. She was too tired to really care much less move. Kira bent down and grabbed a hold of Casey, standing them both up. Casey just looked at Kira, unable to do much else. Kira threw her back to the ground.
Casey collapsed and hit her forehead on a piece of jagged rubble and then again on hard asphalt below. Fresh blood flowed out of the new cut in her forehead. Her eyes were open, but her body was shutting down fast. Her hand moved to the back of her head. When she pulled it away, fresh blood covered her fingers. It was only a matter of time before she was dead now, because she was going to die. That was more clear to her now than ever. She felt dizzy and detached from the world.
It took her a few seconds to realize that she was moving, rather quickly actually, and a few more to notice that she had a pair of strong arms around her – definitely not Kira's. She was being carried, she realized. Her head fell against the boy's warm chest.
"What the hell are you doing here?" She heard Kira ask. The shock was evident in her voice as was the fear that filled it. She didn't have much left in her either, Casey assumed.
Conner set Casey down softly behind a particularly large piece of rubble for shelter. Casey lay there, drifting off slowly. Conner looked at the petite blond alarmed. She was covered in blood, and he had no way of telling how extensively she was hurt. He did see the beating that Kira had delivered to her though, and he knew that if she were to slip into unconsciousness she may very well not wake up.
"Come on, Case." Conner pleaded as he brushed her hair back from her face. "You have to keep your eyes open."
Casey struggled. Her eye lids kept falling shut and then reopening. His voice sounded almost angelic to her as he spoke – Like nothing else mattered at the time. It helped her fight the exhaustion that was threatening to overcome her.
"Oh God, please don't die on me." Conner continued, fear flooding his voice as she once again closed her eyes. "Please, please, Case, open up your eyes. Come on, do it for me."
He smiled in relief as her eyes fluttered open again. "Ok, ok. Good. You have to stay awake until I can get you back to the command center. I have to go finish this."
"Get out here, CONNER." Kira emphasized Conner's name in disgust.
"Don't go, Conner." Casey found her voice. It was week and shaky; pleading. "She'll kill you too. I don't care about me. Go back. Wait till you're stronger. Save the world."
Conner smirked and ran his fingers lightly across her cheek. "No, she won't kill me. You guys have got her practically running scared. A lot of that is because of you. Can't you hear the fear in her voice? You have nothing to worry about. I'll be fine. Just try to get better and stay awake, OK? I have a plan."
Casey couldn't argue. He looked so sure; it was comforting somehow. He'd only been in the rain a short time, but his clothes were already soaked from the rain and his brown hair was dripping wet, but his brown eyes looked so incredibly warm to her. They seemed to sparkle almost. Conner looked into her eyes one last time before running out from behind cover and facing his opponent. Casey struggled to pull herself forward just enough so that she could catch a glimpse of what was going on.
"Not feeling so confident now, are you Kira?" Conner questioned.
Kira looked at the boy. He was still weak, but so was she. More so than him, she could see that and the uncertainty sat uncomfortably with her.
"What are you going to do?" Kira asked him. "Kill me? Come on, why would you do that? You've fought so hard to protect this body and for what?"
"This can't go on any longer. You know that. I know that. Gotta do, what ya gotta do, isn't that right?" Conner retorted. "Whatever it takes to get the job done. I learned that from you."
Kira said nothing, but only stared at Conner. Her head pounded; her body ached. Retreat was not an option. Devone had made that very clear. This had to be the end. It was either her, or them... and Kira was going to do her damnedest to make sure it wasn't the latter.
So she pushed on, and rushed at the boy in the red t-shirt.
Conner ducked in order to dodge being clotheslined. He did a back hand spring to put some distance between them before throwing his arms up to block a harsh kick that Kira directed at his chest. He wasn't surprised at all that Kira had a little fight left in her; she had always been and always would be a fighter with or without Devone's influence. Still, he winced as her leg connected with his forearms. He ducked to dodge Kira's swinging arm, before blocking a sharp kick. However, he stumbled backwards as Kira's unexpected second kick hit him squarely in the chest.
She went to kick him again, but Conner was ready this time, grabbing her leg before she could hurt him. She twisted around in the air, breaking free of Conner's grip, and landing on her feet a few steps back. She stood in her fighting stance desperately hoping not to fall over. She jumped up to kick him, but he ducked once more, dodging the blow before sideways flipping and laying his leg sharply into Kira's side. Kira jerked sideways and fell onto one knee, holding her side and gasping for breath.
Conner walked over to the girl. Kira looked up at his serious face staring down at her, wondering if he was really going to follow through with killing her. She didn't have much left in her, if anything at all. Between fighting four morphed rangers and using several electrical energy draining attacks, taking Tommy's water energy attack full on, fighting Casey unmorphed for what felt like hours, and now facing Conner as well... she was completely drained and exhausted. The rain seemed to be lightening up now. It was slowly drifting off into a light drizzle almost as if it too realized it was all coming to an end.
"Well, go ahead." Kira challenged him.
Conner merely pulled an small object from out of his pocket and let it fall from his fingers and to the ground. The tiny, round, yellow gem rolled to a stop in front of her.
"What is this?" Kira spoke. It wasn't a question. Her voice was uncertain with a hint of anger rising to the surface.
"You know what that is, Kira." Conner told her.
The moment where Kira, Ethan, and Conner first touched the Dino gems in Dr. Oliver's secret lair seemed to flash before her eyes uncontrollably. She could see herself entering the cave that first time; she could remember feeling the stone in her small hands the instant she touched it. She could see Conner's face clearly as they stared in awe at the glowing gems.
The flashback stopped and Kira reach out for the now wet stone. It was the same. She felt oddly confused as an unsettling feeling overcame her.
"What are you doing." Kira breathed angrily.
"I'm not going to kill you, Kira." Conner spoke evenly and calmly. "Because the fact is, no matter how you are now, you are still my best friend... and you know it. That's what's scaring you so much right now. That's why you falter every single time you go to kill me, or any of us."
"Stop it." Kira told him. Her voice was getting stronger. Her temper was rising.
She jumped back up to face him and chucked the gem at him. The stone bounced off of his chest and one more fell to the ground with a small clatter. She clenched her teeth and fists together tightly. Conner waited for her to make her move. When she did, he swiftly moved to the side using his power of speed and grabbed her arm mid-punch leveraging his vantage point to twist around her. From behind her, he wrapped his arms around her arms and body and locked his grip so that she could not use her arms to fight him.
"Get off me!" Kira tried to break through, but his grip was vice-like. He was much stronger than her because of her previous battles. Somehow, this felt all too familiar to her. Like they had done this before...
"Oh come on, babe." Conner chided. "You have to do better than that. I've seen you do better. Unless you're wimping out on me?"
The word 'babe' seemed to trigger something inside of her because for a few seconds she stopped fighting against Conner's grip as a memory flashed before her. Like all her flashbacks, the color tone was off as if someone had played with the brightness and contrast dials dealing with her eye sight. It had a cooler tint placed on it as opposed to the vibrant, vivid colors in life.
FLASHBACK
She stood in the cave – the same one she had been in to retrieve the yellow gem except a different part. Conner was there, as was the same boy in blue. The sound seemed distant somehow as they spoke as if it were in a different, farther away, place.
"Freak you out, freak you out, freak you out..." Kira sang. "Freak you out - "
"Babe, can you keep it down?" Conner walked past her cutting her off. "I'm trying to stay focused here."
"Did you just call me babe?" Kira stopped singing. She looked at him, upset and angry that he had referred to her like that. She was a person after all. She turned to Ethan. "Did he just call me babe?"
"I don't know. I was listening." Ethan said innocently. "I was still groovin' to your tune."
She marched over to where Conner was looking around and glared up at him. He looked down at her, making a face.
"What?" He asked. "Look, just chill out why don't ya."
Kira didn't chill out.
"Listen, my name is Kira." She pointed at him speaking slowly and clearly. "Maybe you should write it on your hand or something. So you can remember."
END FLASHBACK
The flashback ended, but Kira merely shook her head as if that would somehow make what she saw go away. She struggled harder to free herself from Conner. There was some that about his calm voice that seemed to taunt her. It was familiar, the things he spoke of.
"I was red. You were yellow." Conner explained softly in her ear. He flexed his muscles further to prevent Kira's escape as he reset his footing to keep his balance. "You have to know that. After all, I have always been honest with you. It's something that you've always liked about me."
Again, Kira was unwillingly forced to relax as another vision flashed before her eyes much to her dismay.
FLASHBACK
Kira, Hayley, Ethan, Tommy (trapped in his Power suit), and Conner stood in front of the monitors in the Dino cave viewing Kira's 'Patiently' music video... if you could even call it that. They all looked at the video in aw, wondering how things could have gone so wrong. She looked nervous. Conner began to look like he was going to laugh his ass off, but thought better of it.
"Alright, tell me the truth." Kira asked them.
"Uh, well..." Ethan Trailed off.
"It's..." Hayley started.
"What?" Kira asked, anger rising to the surface. "Is someone going to tell me what they really think?"
"I will." Conner said.
"CONNER." The three turned to him.
"No, let him talk!" Kira defended him angry that no one else would say anything.
"I just think it's..." Conner hesitated, choosing his words carefully. "It's not you."
"I knew it." Kira subsided.
The flashback didn't end there this time. She began remembering other things when the scene suddenly flashed and changed to a very different location. A different time – place. It had been the day where Nikki Valentina had visited Reefside for a shoot. The boys had just learned of the actresses real personality after overhearing her comment about barfing in her coffee cup. Kira walked towards them as they moved backwards.
"So, you guys put the moves on Nikki?" She asked with a smile.
"No, turns out-" Ethan started disgruntled.
"She is whack!" Conner finished for him. He looked disgusted.
Kira continued to smile. She had been right all along and was enjoying the boys' misery. "Well guys, I'd say you learned a valuable lesson."
"What? Stick to cheerleaders?" Conner smirked, knowing that she would disapprove.
It was subtle, but Kira's smile faded for an instant. She recovered nicely as Ethan began to talk, glad that no one had noticed.
"He's kidding." Ethan looked at Conner, knowing how Kira would react. "We Know. You can't judge a book by it's cover. Even a fine one like Nikki's."
Conner rose his arm up disappointedly before both boys looked longingly in Nikki Valentina's direction.
Kira's smile fell. She felt like she wanted to bash both of their heads into each other.
The scene then changed again to that of the time Conner, Ethan, and she had stumbled upon the Japanese version of the power rangers. The sound seemed to be muted on life as the images flashed by. She saw Conner standing in front of the TV with his shirt open to obscure the television from their view, and she remembered how offended he had gotten by the show, only to end up liking it later. Kira then saw herself what looked like trying to elbow Conner in the ass as he took a seat next to her, obviously wanting to be elsewhere. The scene changed again to show her tousling his hair and running away from him in the Cyberspace. He ran after her. She remembered him making some sort of comment about how the red ranger was the coolest. She thought different. Yellow of course.
There was another flash and she was immediately thrown into a different scene - the same one that she had seen earlier in Devone's lair. Conner was playing soccer, and she was angry with him. Again, the sound seemed to be muted as quick snippets of their actions flashed before her eyes. She could see herself running down the soccer field with the ball a huge grin on her face, and then she remembered why the bear hold had seemed so familiar as they fought... because he had done it before. She then saw the two of them what appeared to be wrestling. That scene changed as soon as it had come for now she was sitting on the ground, having her foot wrapped in a light pink cloth, before the scene jumped again to her riding on Conner's back.
END FLASHBACK
The scenes of her life faded away, and she shook her head slowly, confused. What was going on? What did all of this mean?
Full of rage, Kira managed to wiggle in enough room so that she could elbow Conner sharply in the chest. He gasped, which was enough for Kira to break free and put some distance between them.
"I make you mad." Conner spit out rubbing the spot on his chest where she had hit him. His voice wasn't shaky or soft. It was fierce and definitive. "I piss you off. A lot. It's just what we do... Kiley Styles."
She stared at him, angry; confused. For a second she recalled standing in front of some escalators glaring at the boy over something he had said. She remembered the feeling of anger and rage she had felt for him then. It was different than how she felt now, yet still similar. She was hesitant, but she charged at the boy choosing rage over uncertainty. All she knew was to destroy the power rangers. Those were her orders that she had to obey. It was life or death, and she chose life.
Conner used his speed to avoid Kira's poorly placed attacks. Her movements had become irrational and predictable. Somewhere along the line, she had stopped fighting with her head and started fighting out of rage and desperation.
"I'm winning." Conner thought with a smirk as he sped around her attacks, letting her wear herself down further.
"You're so stubborn." Conner insulted her, chuckling. He was trying to make her mad. "You just can't admit that I might be right, can you?"
"Shut up!" Her fist collided with his chin, wiping the smirk right off his face.
Conner moved backwards rubbing his chin tenderly. It surprised him. That hit had definitely been harder than her other attacks on him thus far. Was it possible that she was getting stronger?
"Find yourself, cause I can't find you. Be Yourself. Who are you?" Conner spoke in one final desperate attempt before going back into his run so that it was nearly impossible for Kira to attack him again.
At first, Kira thought it was some kind of riddle. It made no sense. Was he going crazy? And then, it started sounding familiar. Where had she heard those words before?
Conner came to a stop, panting, upon noticing that Kira wasn't moving. He rested his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. He looked over to Kira. She was just standing there, staring at the ground, pondering.
The flashback hit her as it suddenly dawned on her.
FLASHBACK
Conner stood by the bar in his black leather jacket and his red t-shirt. Hayley was wiping the counter down across from him. He had just finished asking her a question before he looked at the door just as Kira aimlessly walked through them and took a seat.
"Never mind, there she is." Conner nodded at Hayley and took a seat at Kira's table.
"Where have you been? You were supposed to be on stage ten minutes ago." Conner asked.
"I'm not singing today." Kira told him casually. She looked bummed out about something; like her mind was obviously elsewhere.
"What?" Conner asked. "Why not?"
The Cyberspace was fairly full, most of the customers there to see Kira. However, they had moved to tables, games, and other things when Kira had failed to start on time.
"It's nothing." Kira spoke.
"Kira, you don't want to sing." Conner looked at her disbelievingly. "That's not nothing."
"It's petty." Kira admitted. "And I'm not that kind of girl. I've never been nor want to be that girl. It's stupid"
"What girl?" Conner asked. To say he was confused would be an understatement.
"The one who cares about what other people say about them." Kira admitted. "I don't know what it is, but it's just... It's irritating."
"Who said what?" Conner asked, his face falling. He sounded as if he was going to kill someone.
"Nothing. It doesn't matter. It's stupid." Conner looked at her. "It's not so much who it was as it is what they said. I could care less about what Brody and his little followers thing, but they basically said that I was a snob – a grade A bitch. A no talented Avril-wannabe."
"Kira..." Conner shook his head.
"I know, I know. And at first, it didn't bother me." Kira stopped him. "But then I got to thinking. Remember when I was made evil by that bone thing at Mercer's museum?"
"Yeah." Conner recalled. "What about it?"
"After I regained control of my mind and I apologized for being so mean to you guys, especially to you, you said that it was OK. That you were pretty much used to it. No one argued." Kira told him. "That's the moment I knew that it was true."
"Kira, you know that I never think before I speak." Conner smirked at his own insult. "If I honestly thought that -"
"No, Conner. Please don't apologize." Kira's had sank down into her arms on the table. "I'm not singing. My head's just not in it right now."
"Fine." Conner said simply. "Then sit."
He scooted his chair back and took off his jacket, handing it to Trent who had just walked over.
"Watch my jacket, will you." It wasn't a question. "I've got something I've got to do."
Conner ran up to the table in front of the stage to where Kira's band was sitting and started talking to them. Kira looked at him, curious. She watched as they nodded and rolled her eyes when he them moved on to a table with a few choir girls from school. She looked away, before Conner moved to the stage and pulled up the microphone.
"So why aren't you singing?" Trent asked as Tommy, Dr. O, Hayley, and Ethan all came over to join them.
"Not in the mood." Kira spoke sitting up.
Tommy rose his eyebrows, but decided not to question it after getting a sharp look from Hayley. "OK, maybe next time then."
"Yeah." Kira put on a smile.
Her smile faded as Conner's voice filled the Cyberspace.
"OK, so my good friend Kira doesn't really feel all that great right now." He started. "Mostly because of me and my tendency to open my big idiotic mouth, so in order to make it up to her, I'm going to make a fool of myself in front of all of you to try and cheer her up.
Conner winked at Kira, who's mouth fell open.
"Oh my god." Kira felt panicked. "He's not – tell me he's not."
Ethan started laughing a goofy laugh, as Trent smiled. They were both excited for what they knew was coming next. Tommy looked at the three of them confused.
Conner smiled in their direction. "Here I go, This is for you Kira."
With that the band started playing their respective instruments to the song "Who Knows" by Avril Lavigne from her album Under My Skin.
It instantly became clear as to why Conner had recruited the choir girls when they started to sing the opening lyrics to the song.
"Yeah. Yeah. Yeah-e-yeah, yeah. Yeah-e-yeah, yeah." The three girls sang in the appropriate key.
Conner then pulled up a microphone and laughed as he began to sing.
"Why do you look so familiar?
I Could swear that I,
Have seen your face before.
I think I like that you seem sincere.
I think I'd like to get to know you a little bit more.
I think there's something more,
Life's worth living for!"
Conner belted out the lyrics. It was surprising that he knew the lyrics. Some people were laughing, Ethan and Trent included, while others danced ridiculously to their classmates vocals. Some people even cheered him on.
"Who know what could happen?
Do what you do, just keep on laughin'
One thing's true. There's always a brand new day.
I'm gonna live today like it's my last day..."
Conner and the band continued in unison. Most people were surprised that Conner had any vocal talent at all. He actually wasn't half bad. Though, he wasn't that good either. Kira closed her eyes and opened them again, hoping that this would all disappear. When it didn't, she got up and ran up to the front of the stage in an attempt to salvage any dignity Conner had left.
"Conner, get down here." Kira told him as the music played on. "What do you think you're doing?"
Conner merely smiled "Cheering you up! And you're smiling, so it's working!"
He was right. She was smiling. Kira chuckled.
"Come on, don't make me make look stupid all by myself." Conner spoke, pulling Kira onto the stage.
"Yeah. Yeah. Yeah-e-yeah, yeah. Yeah-e-yeah, yeah." The choir girls continued as they talked.
"I'm going to kill you for this." Kira told him trying to be serious.
"How do you always have an opinion?"
Conner continued at just the right moment. He held the microphone out to Kira to say the next phrase.
Kira scoffed, but sang the next line anyway.
"And how do you always find, the best way to compromise?"
"We don't need to have a reason." Conner continued as Kira grabbed on of the two extra microphones from the choir girls. Somehow this little song had become a duet... from hell.
"We don't need anything, we're just wasting time." Kira sang next.
Then they sang together in harmony.
"I think there's something more,
Life's worth living for!
Who knows what could happen?
Do what you do just keep on laughin'
One things true, there's always a brand new day.
Who knows what could happen?
Do what you do just keep on laughin'
One things true, there's always a brand new day.
I'm gonna live today like it's my last day..."
"Find yourself,
Cause I can't find you.
Be Yourself.
Who are you?"
Kira continued with the bridge alone.
"Find yourself,
Cause I can't find you.
Be Yourself.
Who are you?"
This time it was Conner's turn to sing alone as he continued with the beginning of the chorus.
"Who knows what could happen?
Do what you do, just keep on laughin'.
One things true, there's always a brand new day."
Then they finished, singing together and trying not to bust out laughing.
"So you go and make it happen.
Do your best just keep on laughin'
I'm telling you, there's aways a brand new day.
Who knows what could happen?
Do what you do just keep on laughin'.
One things true, there's always a brand new day.
I'm gonna live today like it's my last day."
"Kira Ford everybody!" Conner threw his arms out at the girl in yellow.
Kira looked to the ground, smiling; laughing as the people clapped and cheered all around them.
"Conner McKnight." She motioned to her friend.
"Thank you!" Conner held his hand to his heart with false emotion. "This has always been a dream of mine-" was all he could get out before Kira pushed him off stage.
"OK,OK. That's enough." Kira jumped down with a grin.
"How was that for being an Avril Wannabe?" Conner laughed as he embraced his friend in a hug and they walked back to their table.
END FLASHBACK
Kira screamed out, trying to sort everything out in her head. Her fists were clenched tight, her breathing shaky and deep.
"WHY DO YOU CARE!" Kira yelled at him slowly. "I'm evil! I fight against you!"
Conner ran over and grabbed her by the shoulders. He knew it was a dangerous move, but he was willing to risk it. He wasn't leaving this battle without her.
"Why do I care?" He asked. His voice was rising. "I care because you're my friend. You can't spend over a year together and not care. And I know that if this situation was reversed, you would never give up on me."
Kira was shaking now. She couldn't seem to decide whether she wanted to hit him or hug him. She shifted her feet, shaking Conner's arms off of her, and causing him to sigh.
"Hit me if you want." He glared at her. "Kill me even, but I'm not letting you go. Not this time."
Casey was doing her best to stay conscious. She was impressed with Conner's strategy of using his speed to out maneuver her.
"Wait... When did he get super speed?" She wondered to herself. Unable to come up with an answer she dismissed it.
She was fighting the urge to close her eyes every second. She didn't understand why Conner and Kira seemed to be talking so much. Was it really working? Was he getting to her? Or was she simply pretending so that she could build up her strength and take Conner down once and for all. If so, Casey's efforts were all for nothing, and the world was doomed. Half of her felt angry with Conner for not following through and killing Kira. The other half was sympathetic and felt an irresistible pull towards the boys compassion and heart. Casey was unsure which side was winning.
Kira felt as if her entire body was heating up. She couldn't constrain the voice in her head screaming and yelling at her to give in and go with Conner anymore. She was losing control fast. The confusion made her head spin. Why was she doing all of this? What was the point? Kira had lost the battle, and the evil in her recognized this.
She fell to her knees, yellow electrical impulses jumped and diffused all over her body. Her face was expressionless. Numb.
Conner looked at her, terrified. He hadn't counted on... this. Whatever this was. He rushed over to her and bent down on one knee. He reached out to touch her but quickly withdrew his hand as he was given a severe electrical shock.
"Conner..." Kira spoke softly. Her facial expression remained blank.
Conner looked at her with pain in his eyes. "Kira?" He asked. His voice was shaky as if on the verge of tears. "Kira, tell me what to do. I don't know how to help you."
"I'm scared." She admitted.
Evidently she still didn't have full control over her body or she could have stopped the shocks. Evil Kira was clearly putting everything she had into one last final attack... an attack to kill her host – to kill Kira.
The energy was getting more intense by the minute, and Conner still had no idea what to do. He was panicking, trying to find a spot where he could grab hold of Kira, but was forced to withdraw his hands every time.
"Conner, it appears that the evil side of Kira is trying to destroy herself with a severe and dangerous amount of electricity held within Kira's body." Zelta's voice boomed over Conner's communicator.
"I know!" Conner ran his fingers through his hair. "What should I do?"
"There is only one thing I can think of that may work." Zelta spoke. "It will be very dangerous and there is no guarantees that either of you will live through the attack."
Conner's eyes widened as the electricity intensified further and a look of pain came over Kira's face. There was no question about it. This was Kira... the real one. She was the person having to endure this pain right now. She had been sheltered from her attacks before. It was the evil inside her doing this to herself.
"Is there any chance that both of us will make it?" Conner asked desperately.
"Yes, though the odds are slim." Zelta informed him. "You do not have to do this, Conner. You can help the remaining rangers and return to the command center a hero. Because of you and your young friends, the world has been saved."
"Just not Kira." Conner spoke quietly. He shook his head. "I don't care if the odds are one to ninety-nine. I'll do it. Just tell me what to do."
"If that is your decision, red ranger, I will support you." Zelta encouraged. "If Kira's body is to absorb the damage inflicted in it's entirety, she will not make it. However, if some of that energy were to be deflected, and to be absorbed into a secondary source, the damage inflicted on Kira will be significantly less."
Conner's face fell as the realization of what Zelta was saying sank in. "I'm the secondary source."
"Yes, red ranger." Zelta confirmed. "This would be much more appealing option if you were currently at a stronger physical state and you could both morph. As it stands, the outcome is unpredictable."
"I'll do it." Conner said assuringly. "If Kira dies then everything we've fought against this far will have all been for nothing."
"Good luck, Conner." Zelta wished. "You must hurry."
Conner lowered his arm and nodded. He glanced over to where Casey was and looked at her for a moment. She was trying to get up, but was having much difficulty. She managed to sit up against the giant piece of rubble. She was looking at him with fear in her eyes... she knew something was up, and that it wasn't good.
He looked at her. He wished things were different, but this was something that he had to do. He wanted to scoop her up and hold her. To make her feel safe. But he wanted, needed, to save Kira, and that took precedence.
Slowly, surely, Conner moved closer and reached out. He felt the blinding pain the instant he touched her. It seamed to heat up his entire body causing complete and utter agony. His eyes clamped shut. He gritted his teeth to try to prevent himself from screaming out. His knee slipped on the ground as he shook, and his head bowed. His breathing quickened and he let out a few cries of pain, before closing his mouth in an attempt to contain himself.
Somehow, Kira managed to lift her own arms and place them onto Conner's which gripped her shoulders. She was trying to pull him off, but found herself unable to do so. Conner was sure he was hurting her with his vice like grip. Every bone – every single muscle – in his body was screaming at him to let go of her, yet he still hung on, clinging for dear life.
Casey watched from her location completely terrified. She could just make out their bodies from deep within the yellow energy that was now so intense that it surrounded them completely. She wished that she could do something. Anything to save them, but she found herself paralyzed in fear and exhaustion.
"Conner." She whimpered. "No. No, let her go, Conner. Just let her go."
Conner could feel himself slipping, which only made him squeeze tighter still. He'd come this far. He couldn't let go now. He found the strength somewhere inside of him to inch closer to the girl. Slowly, carefully, he positioned his arms into that of an embrace and pulled Kira close to him for a better grip. He could feel his body losing strength by the second. His body was breaking and numbing with the excruciating pain that he was feeling, yet he pushed on, holding onto Kira with everything he had in him.
The lightning surrounding them intensified once more, and Conner could no longer fight the urge to scream. He lifted his head and let out a harsh yell followed by whimpers of pain and agony. His breathing quickened as tears fell from his eyes. He thought for sure that this was it for him. He'd come so far only to die here and now. He lifted his heavy eyelids so that he could see Kira's face one last time. Tears were rolling down her cheeks too. She stared at Conner, pain filling her face. She was having a difficult time breathing; her breaths were short and staggered; a small cry being released from her throat. The two of them looked at each other, crying. Her grip tightened on his arms.
It was over for both of them, they thought. They could see the goodbyes lying within each of their eyes.
He couldn't die, not knowing what it would feel like. It was an impulse decision; there was no time to really plan or think it through. There they were – Conner and Kira. Kira and Conner. Best friends... always and only ever friends. Death was so close now, and he had nothing left to lose. So he went for it. With every last once of energy he had left, he moved his head and touched his lips to hers.
Devone stared at the monitors angrily. How could this have happened? One second she had defeated the rangers and the next, the red one came from out of nowhere and ruined everything. Now, Kira was completely useless as she was evidentially about to self destruct. He could only hope for the red and yellow rangers deaths in the process.
"NO! NO, NO, NO, NO!" He shouted angrily.
"Is it really that big of a deal, daddy?" Syria rolled her eyes. "I never liked her anyways."
"Not that big of a deal? Not that big of a DEAL?" He rampaged. "Syria! We just lost the yellow crystal!"
"There are other ways to defeat the rangers other than using an evil ranger." Syria scoffed. "There will be other days. We will think of something, and when we do, they will fall.
"UGH!" Devone fired a laser out of his hand in anger causing a nearby council to go up in flames. He stormed out of the chamber angrily.
"Ever heard of Anger management..." Syria mumbled under her breath before preparing to repair the damaged council.
Casey fought to keep her eyes open from where she sat. She was losing way too much blood. In fact, she was certain that she should have been dead by now. A new pain filled her heart as she saw Conner kissing Kira from deep within the yellow energy. It was odd – coming to the realization of liking someone the moment before you both die, but that's how she felt. At least she thought so. She'd never really been in love before, and it had definitely come as a surprise. A few days ago she wouldn't have given him a second thought. Spending time with him, evidentially changed that.
Their kiss lasted for maybe a second, before the yellow energy flashed so bright that it momentarily blinded Casey. The contrast in light made her feel even more dizzy and sick than she had been feeling before. She couldn't even begin to imagine the pain that they must have felt during the explosion. All she knew was that there was a blinding white light and the second it disappeared, the two were being pelted across the school yard in opposite directions, and finally... after all this time, it was all over. The dark clouds and rain seemed to fade away within a few minutes, revealing the bright yellow sun and brilliant blue sky.
Casey suddenly felt overwhelmingly nauseated before throwing up and then passing out.
2 WEEKS LATER
Katherine walked to the front of her home and opened the door revealing the two blond sisters, Hannah and Casey Daniels. Katherine smiled warmly at them.
"Hey!" Casey and Hannah greeted together.
"Hey, come on in!" Katherine smiled warmly at the girls, and motioning for them to enter the house.
The day was warm with the sun shining brightly in the sky. The girls both wore bikini tops with netted skirts over the bottoms and a pair of sandals and sunglasses to match. Casey's wore a black bikini with a light pink skirt; Hannah's purple with a blue skirt. Casey carried a large beach bag which held their towels, extra clothes, cell phones – the necessities. Katherine led them through her house and to the back yard where Tommy was cooking hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill. Jake was already swimming in the in ground pool with Conner, who flung back his hair that he could see more clearly once the girls stepped out of the house. A net was set up in the middle of the pool. Both boys faces seemed to light up upon seeing the two girls.
"Hey Case!" Conner smiled. "Jump in."
"The water's great." Jake added, though he was looking at Hannah.
"OK." Hannah agreed.
"I'll be just a second." Casey told them, removing her sun glasses. "I'm gonna go grab something to drink first."
"Alright." Conner smirked. "Don't take to long. We might get a water volleyball game going here. Me and you versus Jake and Hannah."
Casey chuckled and handed the bag to Hannah. "Alright, sounds like fun! Be right back."
"There's some water and soda in the refrigerator, Casey." Katherine told her from where she was standing by the grill with Tommy.
"Thanks." Casey walked back through the house and into the kitchen where she reached into the fridge and grabbed a vanilla coke.
She popped open the can, shut the fridge and then froze. Kira was standing at the kitchen counter. She looked a little nervous; awkward. She was wearing her black and yellow t-shirt with the number on it as well as a pair of jean shorts. Her hair was pulled into two pig tails which were tied towards the top of her neck. She would have looked completely innocent, had they not both just gone through what they did two weeks ago.
"Hey." Casey breathed.
It had been a while since they talked. Not since they had both woke up in the command center hours after their battle – cut and bruised; both feeling completely shattered. Casey remembered feeling so confused when she woke up to see Kira lying in the bed next to her. She hadn't expected her and Conner to make it through the blast. That had been the last time they had really said a anything to each other excluding the occasional 'hey' here and there. It wasn't Kira's fault, Casey knew that. But what do you say to someone you almost killed with your bare hands? Would have killed if you could have? Someone that you had once felt such an intense rage and anger towards – a feeling that you were trying so desperately to forget. How do you get past something like that? It was different for the others. They had all known Kira long before any of this had happened. They weren't there when Casey so violently punched Kira's face in. She had lost all self of control and self constraint. They weren't awake to hear the harsh snapping of her nose when Kira kicked her. She wasn't angry with Kira, nor did she blame her, but the memories of it all made her sick.
The two of them had a lot of classes together, but those classes were temporarily being held in bulk at the local community college which made it difficult to catch each other in a free moment. Besides, at this point, they had both decided that space was best.
"Hey." Kira smiled.
"How are you feeling?" Casey asked. A small, almost shy, smile creeped across her face as she leaned against the counter across from her.
"Good. Good. A lot better." Kira nodded. She smiled at Casey. "Does this mean we're talking again?"
"Kira, it's really not you." Casey said honestly. She felt bad.
"I know." Kira said quickly. "Baby steps. But I'm feeling OK, despite everything. I finally feel like myself again, though I still can't remember much of anything after being strapped to the chair in Devone's chamber. I remember waking up in the power chamber and that's about it."
"It's best that way." Casey decided for her. "Trust me."
"Don't I know it." Kira agreed.
Kira reached across the counter for her water which was sitting close to Casey. Casey jumped. Kira hesitated, holding her breath, before exhaling and grabbing the water. She opened her mouth, but closed it again, deciding not to say anything.
"Sorry." Casey apologized. She knew that Kira had to have noticed. "It's just going to take time."
Kira nodded. "I can't believe I did so much damage in such little time. It seems so unreal that a single person could do so much."
Casey sighed. They'd all had this conversation before, when Kira had first woke up. "Things happen, Kira. It wasn't your fault, you know that... The real question is are you staying to help clean up the mess?"
No one had brought up the music question since Kira's return. Alpha and Zelta had made it very clear that the yellow power was reserved for Kira, given she accepted it, and while she hadn't accepted the power yet, she hadn't declined it either. Fortunately for the rangers Devone and Syria had been laying low for a while. According to Zelta, infusing Kira with his own, dark, power had taken a lot of energy away from Devone; energy that he could never get back, but could potentially rebuild. Zelta assured the rangers that they'd never have to worry about having to face another evil ranger again because of the strain it put on his own powers. Not unless it wasn't a real ranger, but something like the clone Mesagog had created last year. Kira had been his one major attack, and he had lost.
"I don't know." Kira responded truthfully. She was suddenly very interested in the texture of the granite counter top. "On one hand I feel like I should stay and help you guys fight Devone, but on the other hand... I did a lot of damage here. I broke the town – hurt a lot of people. I'm beginning to think this place would just be better off without me here as a reminder."
"No one honestly knows that it was you who did those things. No one got a good look at your face so you can't use that excuse." Casey refuted. "You didn't hurt anyone."
"I hurt you." Kira looked into Kira's eyes and knew that she was right.
"That's different. I knew what I was getting into when I accepted the black ranger powers. There's a difference between rangers and innocent people." Casey assured her. "I went after you."
"Maybe so." Kira spoke. "Doesn't change anything."
"It changes everything." Casey spoke passionately. "With you here, we're a team. Without you... we're incomplete. I know things are a little weird right now, but we need you, Kira. The world might need your music too, who knows. But we need you more. Here and now."
"Really?" Kira asked, unsure. "I just... I thought it'd be easier if I left. For you, for them." She looked out towards the back of the house where the others were having a great time. "You said it yourself. It's going to take time and space."
"Why? Because you kicked our asses a little bit with your awesome ranger powers?" Casey tried to joke. "Psssh. Could have happened to any one."
"Funny." Kira smirked.
"Seriously, you know that's ridiculous. I meant some time from hanging out every day. Time to ease back into things; try to forget some of the things that happened. Not Kira gone forever." Casey's tone changed.
"You're not going to forget." Kira spoke honestly. "The things you have to do; the things you face as a ranger and the decisions you have to make... It stays with you forever."
"Maybe I can't forget. I probably won't. But I can come to terms with it and accept things as they are." Casey responded. She sighed. "For what it's worth, I think you should stay. We all do... but it's your choice. You life. This is an opportunity that may not present itself again. Either way, we're all behind you one-hundred percent... Now, I'll be out in the pool kicking Jake and Hannah's but at water volleyball with Conner if you want to join us."
Casey gave Kira a warm smile before leaving Kira to think about what she had just said as she made her way out to the pool. Kira took a drink of her water, sitting down on the bar stool nearby. She sat, pondering whether or not to stay or go. She smiled as the sounds of laughter came from the pool. Conner had evidently pulled Casey into the pool against her will. Everyone sounded so happy. The town had really come together and helped clean up the mess that she had created. The high school wouldn't be repaired enough to resume classes until about next semester, but the extra classrooms at the Reefside Community College seemed to be working out nicely for a temporary situation. The theater wasn't damaged quite as badly and was getting closer to becoming fully repaired every day.
The more she thought about it, the more she realized that Casey had been right. No one had been hurt, well except the rangers, and despite the soreness they all felt for about a week afterward, Alpha had healed them all up quite nicely. No one could tell that they had all been so broken only two weeks ago. No one could know if they hoped to keep their identities a secret. Casey and Conner had been hurt the most and they both appeared to not blame her. Tommy and Kat had been very comforting as they had both gone through a similar situation. Having them around made all the difference. Kira grinned and was on her way to the pool when the her cell phone rang.
She stopped in the doorway, pulled the tiny yellow phone from her pocket and flipped it up. "Hello?"
"Hi, this is Dan Halliwell." A man greeted.
"From Ramone Records, right." Kira knew why he was calling. She turned back around and leaned up against the wall. "You want to know about the deal, right?"
"Haha." Dan cackled. "Right on, Miss Ford. Here's the deal. It's Saturday. And it's just that we've given you two weeks already... the company really needs an answer today."
"Um." Kira hesitated. She stood in silence for a moment, debating. "No. It's just really bad timing right now. I'm sorry if I've wasted your time."
"Ah." Dan sounded disappointed. "You realize what you're giving up here? You could be huge."
"I could be." Kira agreed. "But I'm seventeen. I'll still be here in a few years possibly even better than ever. There will be plenty of opportunity for me after high school and maybe even college. So thank you, but like I said – you just got me at a bad time."
"But why would you want to go and do that?" Dan pressed. "That's so... ordinary; blah. Anyone can do that. This is everyone's dream, and it's knocking at your door."
"I found a reason to stay." Kira put it simply. That's all he needed to know.
"Come on, Kira!" Conner yelled from the pool. The sounds of violent splashing could be heard clear inside. "The girls need your help!"
Kira turned and looked through the open sliding glass door. Conner and Jake were teaming up on Hannah and Casey in what appeared to be some sort of splashing war. Hannah dunked Jake as Conner did the same to Casey. Jake came back up with Hannah on his shoulders. She squealed as he jumped up and threw the girl off his back, laughing. Casey was hanging onto Conner's back trying to get the tall boy to go under. They were all laughing happily, wearing huge grins on their faces.
"Look, thanks for the offer." Kira shrugged. "But I've made my decision. This is where I'm supposed to be. Bye."
She flipped the phone down and tossed it onto the table nearby feeling completely satisfied with her decision. She smiled as the realization of being the yellow power ranger once more dawned on her. She was going to be one of the heroes that this world so desperately needed, especially in a crucial time like this one. Now that the decision was made, she couldn't understand why it had ever been a question in the first place. There was really only one thing she could do, and she had done it. This is what she wanted. Beaming, she stepped through the glass doors and jumped into the pool clothes and all and joined in the laughter. Happy days would come again.
THE FIGHT FOR EARTH CONTINUES IN
OUT OF MY ELEMENT
As the Rangers discover that their chemical make up is changing rapidly, they must struggle to find a way to control the changes or risk exposing their secret to the world. However, this new increase in power isn't the only thing that the new blue ranger has on his mind. As the anniversary of Jake and Hannah's break up comes near, Hannah tries to put all her focus and drive into their upcoming gig at Hayley's, but finds it increasingly difficult with Jake constantly being around now that they live in the same town and go to the same school. Things only seem to get worse as Jake decides he wants to put the past behind him and play "Inseparable" as part of the set list – a song he wrote for Hannah. As if things weren't bad enough, Devone decides to take advantage of the rangers weakness sending down a monster who attacks by spitting acid with the hopes of keeping the blue ranger distracted long term. Jake finds himself hurting most when he sees Hannah hanging out with Hayden, a guy from the soccer team who always has anything but good intentions when it comes to girls. Can the rangers get a hold of their powers in time to defeat the acidic monster and save Hannah from Devone's attacks? Will Jake and Hannah finally come to terms with their true feelings towards one another? Only time will tell...
* Songs Used in this section of Fusion are not my own. I am not as talented to actually write music so I must succumb to using that of others and claiming them as my proclaimed artists in this story (ie. Thomas Boys/Daniels Sisters, Kira Ford, and later Railynn Tyler and Michael Jonas). At the end of each chapter, I will post the title and artist used throughout the chapter out of respect for the original artists and because yeah... it is copyrighted haha.
Inseparable - Jonas Brothers
Like It or Leave It - Aly & AJ
Who Knows - Avril Lavigne
