Challon86: Hope you like the ending:D
protejerinnocencia: glad you loved the last chapter, hope you like this one too
star-dreamer09: Thank you for the review, and I hope this is a soon enough update for you
bRaInWaVe: loved reading your review, as always.
Thank you all for the kind reviews :D gives everyone a cookie!
"If you two would have listened, we would have been more prepared for Darconda!" Mintar growled at Karone and Zhane.
"If you weren't such a deceiving pig maybe I would have," Karone shot back, anger flaring in her eyes.
"Watch it little girl," Mintar said in a chiding tone. Karone balled up her fist, and felt Zhane tense up behind her.
"Alright…" Lanin said, stepping in between them. It was pretty much the first time he had spoken in front of everyone. "Fighting isn't going to stop this. You need to stop being such a stuck up pig, and the rest of us will learn how to trust your judgment," Mintar closed his mouth, grinding his teeth.
"Fine…" Mintar said in a tight voice, "Truce," he said to Karone and Zhane. They just nodded their heads, and that was a satisfactory answer for him. "So we need to figure out more on Demios over here, since one of us has actually fought him," he said turning to Karone.
"Not that much, and he was holding back anyway," Karone said to Mintar, folding her arms around her chest. Mintar sighed, running a hand through his hair.
"Fine," Mintar sighed. "Look I know this is kind of personal for you-," he started.
"Do not bring my family into this," Karone growled at him, and felt Zhane's hand wrap around her own. She yanked it away and poked him his chest, making him back up a step every time she poked him. "You have been nothing but a plague on my life, and cracking jokes about my parents and my brother ever since we came here. You are a stuck up, conniving little pig who will use and do anything to get what he wants," Mintar kept backing away from her, shock plastered on his face. "You have no right at all to bring up anything about my family. Never mention this again,"
Mintar swallowed, "I deserved that," Mintar said. "But we need to try and work together as a team…we need to find more information on our enemy, and hope they don't catch us off guard again," The team gaped open mouthed at him in shock. Never in their lives had they ever heard or seen him admit he was wrong.
"Wait...what, say that again. Did I hear you say, you deserved that?"
Mintar adjusted his collar nervously and once again admitted, "Yeah, I said I deserved that…and I do,"
"Don't think that this changes anything," Karone growled, recovering her anger back. "But you are right…we need to know about him, and Darconda," she said Darconda's name with bitter distaste in her voice. "So lets get this over with," Karone said angrily. Mintar nodded, but didn't say anything more so he wouldn't piss Karone off anymore than he already did. "So where are we going to go find this kind of stuff out?" Iris asked in a curious voice.
"Um…dunno," Mintar admitted. "I mean I know none of our current compilations of anything on anyone on the Dark Fortress is complete, or up to date," Kinwon was a part of the committee that reinstated the Power Rangers program, and slowly he walked to the puzzled rangers.
"I have a solution to your dilemma…" he said, "Even though this was supposed to be a surprise, but this seems to be a great time to introduce it. Lanin, I believe that you will be familiar with the systems…" Lanin stayed silent and Iris glanced at him curiously. "Follow me," he said, and the Rangers followed him.
Kinwon led them to a hanger, and they saw a big blue ship. "Here you hopefully will be able to gain any valuable information on anything you need to find,"
"This is great," Zhane said, "we'll be able to find so much info…" Zhane wrapped his arm around Karone when he saw how silent she was. "Karone are you ok?" he asked. Karone just nodded her head, and looked towards Kinwon.
"Lanin, I believe you know the systems…" Kinwon said, "so teach them how to use it to find information," Lanin nodded and lead them onto the ship. Lanin gave a quick explanation on the systems, and soon each ranger was looking up information. While Karone was searching she saw something on her parents. She looked at it, tears entering her eyes. She put a hand on the screen, and her body started to tremble. Zhane looked over at her, and got out of his chair, and sat down next to her.
"Karone…" Zhane started.
"Why didn't anyone tell me?" Karone sobbed quietly. "They knew where my parents were this whole time…and they didn't even tell me," Zhane took a look at the screen, and saw that her parents were sold to a group of hostiles. "You didn't know did you…please tell me you didn't know…"
"Karone…of course I didn't know," he murmured, wiping her tears with his thumbs. Iris was acting like she didn't understand the directions Lanin gave her, so she didn't see how emotional Karone was. She liked talking to him, but all he would talk about was computer related things.
"I know it is a little complicated, but…" Lanin started.
"Ok…I get this Lanin…I just wanted to talk with you more…" Iris admitted.
"Why didn't you just ask?" Lanin asked with a grin. His grin faltered as he saw Karone in tears. "Iris…maybe we can talk later, but something's wrong with Karone…" Iris turned her head towards Karone, and they walked over to her. Karone suddenly shot out of the counsole and practically sprinted off the Mega Ship.
"What happened?" Iris asked, looking at Zhane. He just motioned towards the screen that Karone was at, and Iris read it. "Oh my god…she is going to go look for these people,"
Zhane hadn't thought that Karone would go and look for the people who owned her parents.
Mintar looked towards them, and didn't see Karone. "Where'd Karone go?" he called towards them. Iris sighed.
"I'll explain to captain mood swing, you go after her," Iris said, turning around to go talk to Mintar. Zhane headed towards were Karone had sprinted off, and saw her heading towards another ship. He ran after her, and stowed away in the back of the ship. Zhane dozed off, and stirred when he felt the ship land somewhere. Zhane stealthily followed her, and saw her discreetly take out a couple Quantrons. Zhane saw some Quantrons sneaking up on her, and he took them out. Karone turned around, and looked shocked when she saw Zhane. "What-what are you doing here?" she asked.
"Making sure you are ok," Zhane said. "What were you thinking, just going off by yourself?"
"I need to save my parents," Karone said.
"You don't have to do it by yourself," Zhane whispered, gently grabbing her arm. "I'm here…and so is the rest of the team,"
"I know…" Karone whispered.
"Lets just go get the rest of the team…" Zhane said, starting to lead her towards the ship again.
"Well isn't that sweet?" Demios' voice boomed, and Karone turned around. "You are a little weak if you are bending towards his will so easily," Karone glared at Demios, and Zhane gently held her back.
"Let go of me," Karone said through clenched teeth.
"Karone…" Zhane whispered, knowing that she was itching to kill Demios for not telling her where her parents were.
Karone got out of his grip, and simultaneously morphed. Demios grinned at her, and suddenly brought out a nasty looking staff, and lightning shot out of it. Zhane didn't even think about morphing, he just ran over to her, and knocked her out of the way, taking the brunt of the blow. Zhane crashed into a wall next to them, falling into unconsciousness. "Wow…you are terrible," Demios commented. "This poor boy just wanted to help you and you just pushed him away,"
"Shut up," Karone growled. She didn't see Zhane moving, and she kneeled down next to him. "Zhane," she whispered, and he didn't stir. She demorphed, and tears were streaming down her face. Demios once again had the perfect opportunity to kill the yellow ranger, and once again he couldn't bring himself to do it. "Zhane…" Karone murmured, gently picking him and had him lean against her chest. Demios disappered, but Darconda was watching him this time, and he appeared.
"Great to see you again little girl," he said to Karone. Karone tightened her hold on Zhane, and started to pull him away from Darconda. "I see that you are just as afraid as you were back then,"
"I am not afraid of you," Karone growled. She felt Zhane shift in her arms a little bit, and stayed awake long enough to hit the panic button her communicator before falling into unconsciousness once again.
The rangers on KO35 were instantly alerted. "The ship is already programmed to start up and lead us to them," Lanin said, gently steadying Iris as the ship took flight.
Karone reluctantly stood up, and morphed. "I'm not afraid of you," she repeated.
"Proove it," Darconda said, and Karone charged at him, bringing out her sword. "Oh…little girl with a sword," he said sarcastically as they started to fight. Quantrons started to surround the area, and just as a pair of quantrons grabbed onto Zhane, the rest of the rangers showed up. Kale and Iris yanked off the Quantrons from Zhane, and gently lifted him up onto his shoulder.
Darconda laughed, and knocked the yellow ranger away. "You are weak," he taunted, and just as he was about to slash her with his own sword, he was hit with a pink laser. Karone turned and saw Iris.
"Come on…we need to get Zhane to the infirmary," Iris said, and that snapped Karone out of it. They teleported back to the Mega Ship, and Mintar fought off Darconda to make sure the team got away, before teleporting them himself. Karone walked over towards the infirmary, but stopped. Why did Zhane have to go? It was her fault that he was hurt…she walked away from the infirmary and went into her room. She didn't want Zhane to get hurt, and if it meant tearing herself away from him…
Zhane woke up with a groan, and tried to sit up. "Dude…you took a pretty strong hit," Kale said, bringing him back down. The first thing he thought about was Karone.
"Is Karone ok?" he asked, as soon as the world stopped spinning.
"Yeah…she is ok…" Iris said.
"Where is she?" Zhane questioned after a moment, when Iris didn't explain further.
"She is in her room…" Lanin explained.
"Karone is thinking that you got hurt because of her," Iris explained.
"Its not her fault," Zhane said. "I need to go see her," Zhane said, trying to get up once again.
"You need to rest. You are new to your powers…and it will take some time for them to heal your wounds," Lanin explained.
"But-," Zhane said.
"I'll see if I can go get her," Iris said, getting out of the infirmary. She looked for Karone and saw her in the mess hall. "Karone…"
"Hey," she mumbled.
"Zhane has been asking for you," Iris said, sitting down next to her.
"Yeah?" Karone asked, wishing that she could see him.
"Why don't you go see him?" Iris suggested.
"Because he will get hurt if I hang around him," Karone sighed.
"Karone…you are just being paranoid. He wants you to be there…he is so worried about you," Iris said. Karone felt tears filling into her eyes, and she let out a sigh. "Go see him…" Iris said, but Karone just shook her head.
A couple hours had passed, and Karone still didn't see Zhane. She was in one of the unmade rooms that would eventually be theirs. Zhane knew that she would act like this, and he could finally go see her. He put his feet on the ground, and slowly brought himself to his feet. He walked around, and started to look for her. He heard Karone's light breathing on the other side of one of the doors. He knocked on the door, and Karone sighed, "Look, I am not going to see him Iris! He is going to get hurt if the enemy finds out our feelings for each other," Zhane telekinetically opened up the door, and Karone's eyes widened in shock. "Zhane…" she whispered. Zhane didn't say anything; he just slowly walked over to her.
"Karone…" Zhane managed to get out, and she stood up to steady him.
"Zhane…you should be resting," Karone said.
"I was too worried about you." Zhane said, "Karone…even if we weren't…dating, I still would have jumped in front of you to protect you," he whispered. "Its not your fault," he said, managing to wrap his arms around her. Karone didn't fight him, and just let him hold her.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. He shushed her, and sat down on the mattress.
"Its alright," he whispered. "It's going to be ok," he promised, as Karone slowly relaxed in his arms. "I love you," he murmured. Karone didn't know what to say, but she knew that she felt the same way about him. "You don't have to-," Karone put a shaky kiss on his lips, hushing him.
"I…I love you too," she managed to get out. Zhane grinned, and slowly felt exhaustion take over. She snuggled closer to him, and soon they were both asleep.
