"Well, well, well, Tinkerbell, how much you've grown."

Adelaide laughed and turned in her seat, her eyes wide with amusement and excitement as she looked up at the brunette standing behind her. "You're here!" she exclaimed. "You're not supposed to be here until next week."

"I thought I would get in a little earlier," said the older woman. She opened her arms wide and smiled. "Don't I get a hug?"

Adelaide threw her arms around the woman, toppling herself off the stool in the process.

"Who's that?" Riley asked, as Tyler walked past. The red ranger shrugged and turned expectantly to Chase.

"That's Sasha," Chase replied. "Ade's older sister. Hey, Sasha," he added, calling to the woman. This would've been the first time he would've met her in person, but they had corresponded a few times over Skype.

"Hey, Chase, being good I hope," Sasha teased.

"Always," Chase defended. "It's your sister you want to watch out for, she always tries to lead me astray."

"I do not!" Adelaide exclaimed.

"Do too," Chase defended. "Just yesterday, you tried to convince me that crossing the canal was a good idea."

"At least I didn't try to walk on water," Adelaide defended.

Chase's grin dropped, and he narrowed his eyes at her. "I didn't try to walk on water," he said. "You pushed me."

Adelaide stuck out her tongue. "Nuh-huh," she said, shaking her head.

Sasha smirked as she looked between them. "From what I can tell, you're both still has bad as each other," she said. She then noticed the looks she was receiving from the others. "Oh, new faces, introductions, Ade?" she asked her sister.

"Oh, yeah!" Adelaide grinned. "We've got some new members to the team since the last time we spoke. This is, Riley, Tyler, and Shelby. You can guess what colours they are by their shirts."

Sasha smiled as she noticed the startled looks on the others faces.

"Wait, she knows?" Shelby asked. "How?"

"Yeah, Sasha played a huge influential part in me bonding to my energem."

"She did, you did?" Tyler asked.

Sasha nodded. "Believe me, I would change it if I could," she explained.

"She would," Adelaide agreed.

~X~

After her shift had ended, Adelaide and Sasha left the base and headed towards the park. They hadn't seen each other in person for nearly two years, and had major catching up to do. For sisters, they were close.

"How are mum and dad?" Adelaide asked, skating alongside Sasha.

"They're doing really good, they miss you though," Sasha answered.

"I miss them too. I'm hoping to come home at the end of the summer, hopefully by then we'll have found all eleven energems."

"From what you've told me it sounds like a big task," Sasha said.

"It is," Adelaide agreed. "But we have more people now."

Sasha nodded. "If you're safe, Ade, I don't care about much else," she said. "Mum and Dad are still curious about why you're out here."

"What did you tell them?"

"I just reminded them of what you said before you left," Sasha said. "That you're travelling before college. I think they're worried though because the increase in monster activity. It's hard to stop them from calling when I know you're in battle. They'd only worry if you didn't answer."

Adelaide sighed. When she had first come to Amber Beach to be a Ranger, her initial intention wasn't to worry any of her family or friends back home. She was thankful that Sasha knew, at least them she had some form of cover when questions arose, but she also hated that Sasha had to lie for her, and that they were lying to their parents anyway.

"How about Caleb and Jessie?" Ade asked. "Have you spoken to them? Where are they? Are they OK? Do we know when they're coming home?"

"Woah, slow down, Tinkerbell," Sasha chuckled. "One questions at a time."

"Sorry, I'm just curious."

"Maybe I should start calling you Curious George instead?"

Adelaide made a face and stuck out her tongue.

Sasha chuckled. "I spoke to Caleb before I left Portland," Sasha went on. "He's currently overseas."

"United Kingdom?"

"There's more to the world than just the United States and the United Kingdom's, Ade," Sasha chuckled.

Ade grinned. "I know, there are actually 196 countries in the world today," she said. "But Taiwan is not considered an official country by many, which would bring that count down to 195."

"Hey, look at you," Sasha grinned.

Ade giggled. "But where is Caleb and Jessie?" she asked.

"Caleb is in Cuba."

"Nice for some," Adelaide said, flipping her board into the air.

Sasha smiled. "Nice," she complimented.

"That's just a baby flip," said Ade. "The ones I'm doing now are much trickier. What about the rest of my questions? Like, when is Caleb coming home, and where is Jessie?"

"Jessie is homebound," Sasha said.

"Is he 50,000 leagues under the sea?"

Sasha laughed. "No," she explained. "Wyoming."

"Hey, Sash, watch this!" Ade said, pushing against the floor and skating away. She skated smoothly for a few minutes before pushing off on her board, arched it into the air at an angle, and then landed back on four wheels.

Sasha smiled and clapped as her sister skated back to her. "An Ollie?" she asked.

"Yeah!" Ade said.

"Did you hear what I said about Jessie?"

Ade nodded. "I miss them," she said. "I hope we get to see them soon."

"Same here," Sasha agreed.

Silence fell between them as they walked, the only sound that could be heard was the thudding of Ade's board as she did more tricks.

"Hey, that reminds me," said Adelaide, breaking the silence. "Can we get my new bike today?"

"Sure," Sasha said. "In the meantime, why don't you show me some of the new tricks Chase has been teaching you?" She nodded towards the skatepark as they arrived.

Ade grinned. "Prepare to be amazed," she said, skating off as quickly as she could.

Sasha laughed and followed her, sitting on the wall surrounding the skatepark, as Adelaide headed straight for one of the ramps.

~X~

After at least an hour of watching Adelaide perform, Sasha suggested that they head back into town for an ice cream and to price BMX bikes, Along the way, Ade called Chase and asked him if he wanted to meet them, while he preferred skateboarding, she always liked his opinion when it came to buying a new bike.

"My treat," said Chase as the two sisters met him at the ice cream parlour, and handed them a cone. Sasha had a plain vanilla ice cream, as she was very fussy when it came to flavor, and Ade had a mint chocolate chip with chocolate chunk toppings.

Sasha rolled her eyes as Ade bit into her ice cream. "I don't understand how you can do that," she said, wincing at the idea of cold ice on her front teeth.

"I'm immune," Adelaide replied, ice cream smothered over her face.

"And you," Sasha added to Chase. "You know how she is after chocolate. Why do you insist on giving it to her?"

"Because she pouts," Chase defended. "And refuses to talk to me."

"You're too soft on her."

"And you're mean," Adelaide said.

Sasha reached out and smashed Ade's ice cream cone into her face, covering her nose.

Ade scrunched up her eyes and shivered. "Not cool," she whined.

"I thought you were immune," Sasha teased.

Adelaide stuck her tongue out again and wiped the ice cream on the back of her sleeve. "This just reinforces the 'mean' comment I made earlier," she said.

Sasha winked and finished her ice cream cone, as Chase tried to defend his from Adelaide.

"Can we get my bike now?" Adelaide asked.

"I suppose so," Sasha said.

"Yes! Race you!" Adelaide exclaimed, turning around and running towards the bike store. She hadn't made it as far as the street when an explosion rocked the area.

"What the -?" Sasha yelled, looking around. "Adelaide!" she added, spotting sister laying on the ground. She and Chase rushed over just as Adelaide sat up.

"Are you OK?" Chase asked.

Adelaide shook her head. "Yeah, where did that come from?" she asked.

"Isn't this precious? A family reunion."

Fury stood over the two rangers and their companion, and army of Vivix's behind him. He snarled at the three of them and raised his sword. "We meet again," he said to Sasha, "now I'll finish what I started two years ago."

"Like hell you will!"

Fury looked up as Adelaide leapt off from the ground and kicked him in the chest. He stumbled back and caught his footing, as Adelaide reached for her dino charger. "How about an exact replay of what happened two years ago?" she asked.

"With one addition," Chase said, standing beside his friend.

Fury growled.

"Ready?" Adelaide aside.

Chase nodded.

"Dino Charger, ready!"

"Energise, ha! Unleash the Power!"

The two morphed and loaded another dino charger into their morphers.

"Dino Steel… armour on!"

With a roar of anger, Fury charged at the two rangers followed by the Vivixs.

"Sasha, get to safety!" Adelaide yelled, jumping over several vivixs, and running towards Fury. She jumped into the air and kicked him several times, flipping over and firing her Dimetro Bow at the swarm of vivxs that rushed to attack her. They dropped like flies.

Sasha looked around, spotting a small alcove nearby, and rushed towards it. She was followed by Vivxs, each one grabbing at her as she tried to escape. "Let me go!" she struggled.

"You can't protect your sister this time," Fury laughed, swinging his sword at Adelaide. She ducked and rolled back to her feet, firing her Dimetro Bow at Fury.

"You touch my sister, in any way, I'll end you!" Adelaide swore.

Fury laughed and attacked again.

"Dino Sabre!"

Fury growled as Riley shoved his way between him and Adelaide. "Insignificant pest!" he roared.

"Riley!" Adelaide breathed in relief.

"Go help your sister," Riley said, pushing Fury back and parring him with his sword. "Go!"

Adelaide nodded and run off, jumping into the air and flipping over the vivxs surrounding her sister. Tyler, Shelby, and Koda were already there, fighting the foot soldiers off as Sasha tried to take cover.

"Come on," Adelaide said, grabbing her sister's arm once she landed and dragging her away. They raced towards the bike store, Sasha sliding inside as her sister turned and fired her Dimetro Bow into the air, the arrow split into several hundred and hit the vivxs that had chased after them.

"Stay here," Adelaide told her sister. "I'll be right back."

"Be careful!" Sasha called as Adelaide ran back to her friends. She closed the door and barred it, before turning to the customers and owners inside. They looked terrified, and she couldn't blame them.

Rejoining her friends, Adelaide stood at the head of the team, as Fury roared in anger. "You failed, Fury, just like you did two years ago!" she snapped. "You tried to hurt Sasha back then, and only resulted in me bonding to my energem. You're a failure, and you always will be!"

"If I can't hurt you through your sister, then I'll just hurt you!"

"Hurt this!" Adelaide said, levelling her bow at Fury. "Ready, guys?"

"Ready!" the others said, combining their weapons. "Dino Spike!"

"FIRE!"

The Dino Spike exploded and Adelaide fired her Dimetro Bow. The two attacks hit Fury, causing and explosion that destroyed the remaining vivxs, and knocked Fury clean into the air. He crashed back to Earth and instantly disappeared.

"Is that it?" Koda asked.

"No giant monster?" Riley questioned.

Adelaide frowned when no Magma beam appeared to grow Fury or any of the vivxs. "THAT'S NOT FAIR!" she yelled. "I wanna use Donnie! Chase, make them grow so I can use Donnie."

Chase shook his head. "Sorry, mate, what do you expect me to do?" he asked. "March onto Sledge's ship and have a wicked word with him?"

Tyler snorted.

"This sucks," Adelaide whined.

"You'll get your chance to use Donnie," Chase said. "It seems like today Fury just wanted to take advantage of an old feud."

"What's your deal with him, anyway?" Shelby asked.

~X~

Adelaide sighed as she sat opposite her friends at the Ranger base. "Fury and I go way back," she said. "He and I crossed paths when I was only five years old. It's the day I found the scarlet energem. It protected me from him, but it didn't bond to me,"

"So, how did you bond to your energem?" Shelby asked.

"Two years ago, Sasha and I were heading home from the skatepark when we were attacked by Fury," Adelaide explained. "He told me how he stuck around thirteen years, waiting for the right time to take my gem, but Keeper, who I also met when I was five, was always there, protecting me," she smiled at the alien as he stood nearby.

"Then what happened?" Riley asked.

"He told me if I didn't hand over my energem then he would kill Sasha," Adelaide said. "Chase, you know how much my family means to me," she looked to her best friend. "I refuse to let anyone, or anything, come between me and my family, and I knew Keeper wasn't there to help me this time, you see, once I turned sixteen, and was old enough to defend myself, Keeper moved on to finding the other energems."

"So, Fury threatened Sasha and you jumped to defend her?" Tyler asked.

Adelaide nodded. "There was a burst of power, my protective bubble appeared, and when it disappeared…" she shrugged. "I was the scarlet ranger."

The team was silent as Sasha wrapped and arm around Adelaide. She had also been invited back to the ranger base, given she already knew their identities.

"I made a promise that day that I would keep her secret," Sasha said, "and when Keeper returned for her, I upheld that promise with my parents and friends back home. Not even our brothers know the truth, and do you know how hard it is to keep a secret from two Navy Officers?"

"What do your parents think Ade is doing here?" Tyler asked.

"Travelling," Sasha answered.

"And they trust her to do that alone?" Shelby asked.

Adelaide frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked.

"You know what I mean," Shelby laughed.

"You're mean, you're all mean, you know that?"

"But you still love us," said Chase.

Folding her arms, Adelaide looked between her friends. "You know," she said. "Sometimes I seriously question our friendships."

The team laughed as Adelaide continued to pout.

A little more family insight for Adelaide, and the backstory on how she bonded to her energem. You never know, I may bring out a fully-fledged one shot of the bonding. We'll see what happens when my Muse comes back from vacation.

Reviews, Favourites, and Alerts are welcomed

~Twix3780