R&R please! I would like to hear what my readers are thinking!
Damon stood at the lab, looking up at the viewing screen which showed a map of Angel Grove. He marked all of the places that they already searched. So far, they still found no sign of any dinogems.
He sighed in frustration. 'Where are those damn dinogems!' Damon rubbed his temples.
"Damon?" came Tammie's voice. Damon smiled. Hearing Tammie's sweet voice was enough to make his headache go away.
"Down here!"
A few seconds later, Tammie's footsteps were heard coming down the stairs.
"Hey," she called as she entered the lab. "How's the, uh, searching going?"
Damon pulled her down to his lap and cuddled her. He buried his face in her neck.
"Okay, I take it that you didn't get anywhere," Tammie said, noticing no changes were made since she left.
"How's your mom?" Damon asked, changing the subject.
"She's fine…" Damon looked up and stared into Tammie's eyes.
"Really?" Damon wasn't convinced.
"Well, it's just that she's worried…about dad. She thinks that they are all too old to still be rangers-"
"What? Did you see how their faces lit up when they heard that some new bad guy is out there? They missed being Rangers!"
"Damon, I think my mom is right." Damon stared at Tammie, with a surprised look. Tammie stood up and began to pace the room. "I mean, my dad is almost forty and he may be good at fighting, but I just don't know how long before his age starts catching up with him."
"But-"
"And plus, my mom is pregnant. If something happens to me or my dad, who is she going to be left with? And I know you noticed that Jason and my dad seemed a little rusty when we were fighting those snake like things yesterday."
Damon began to think for a way to counter her arguments.
"Baby, we're going to need all the help we can get."
"I know, I'm not saying that they can't help us," Tammie cried. "I'm just saying…maybe they'll be more useful in the lab rather than out there fighting with us."
"Tammie-"
"Baby, you, me, and Carl were able to handle those putties remember? Remember when we first were the Spirit Force Rangers?"
"Yeah, that's true. But we wouldn't have defeated Lord Silas without their help."
"Yes we could have! I was the one who ended up killing him anyways!" Tammie exclaimed, the memory of her being evil bringing tears to her eyes.
Damon was at a loss for words. He stood up and walked over to Tammie. He brought her into a big hug.
"But who knows how it would've turned out if we didn't have your dad and the others to help us," he murmured into her hair. Damon tightened his embrace as Tammie began to shake with her sobs. He didn't speak until Tammie's sobs stopped. "I'm sorry baby. I really don't know what I can do. We need all the help we can get and…"
"I understand," Tammie sniffled. She wiped the tears from her eyes and gave her husband a small smile. "Well, I'm gonna go start on dinner then."
Damon nodded. His heart fell heavy as he watched her slowly walk away with her head down. A static sound coming from the viewing screen made him turn around.
"My King," came Alex's voice. "Any luck with the search of Dinogems?"
Damon shook his head. "Alex are you sure that the Dinogems are here? For all we know, Amon could've sent them to China or something!"
"Yes, we are certain that the Dinogems were sent to Angel Grove. It has to be there unless this new evil has already gotten a hold of it!"
"I don't think so, Alex. Yesterday while we were searching, these monsters came. They came from a white, rocklike asteroid. If this new evil has already taken it, why send monsters after us?"
"Something isn't right…" Alex said.
Damon sighed, his headache was returning.
"Alex, I'm gonna go and call it a night okay? This whole Dinogems thing is just making us go in circles."
Alex nodded and bid him a good night before ending the connection.
Damon stretched and headed upstairs to eat dinner and then sleep.
Tammie opened her eyes and glanced at the clock which read 3:25. She looked over at Damon who was fast asleep.
'I'm glad one of us is able to sleep with all this craziness,' she thought bitterly. She gently slipped out of Damon's muscular arms. She slowly opened the bedroom door, hoping that it wouldn't squeak. Once she got down to the first floor, Tammie ran down the flight of stairs that led to the lab.
The lights flickered with her movement. She made her way into the simulation room. Tammie punched in her preferred settings and got ready to fight. The bare white walls around her disappeared and were replaced with Lord Silas' hideout. The simulation putties appeared and Tammie began to punch and
kick at them. After defeating the putties, Goldar and Scorpina appeared. Tammie took out her anger and frustrations out on them, taking them down fairly fast.
The walls around her began to glow with the familiar purple lightning. Tammie took in a deep breath, preparing herself to face the simulation of Lord Silas. Tammie punched, jabbed, kicked, and fought until she was exhausted.
"Is that all you've got?" taunted the simulation. The simulation began to swing the sword at her. Finally, Tammie pushed the button and the simulation ended. Tammie fell to her knees, trying to catch her breath.
After collecting herself, she made her way out to the lab. She glanced up at the multiple maps that Damon had put up. Tammie looked at her watch and saw that it was already 5:30. She trudged up to her room and slipped back into her husband's arms. Damon stirred and held onto her tighter. After a moment of listening to Damon's rhythmic breathing, Tammie fell back asleep.
"As much as I hate to say it," Rocky said before stuffing his mouth full of pizza. "Thif whode searthing foe da demz ith had."
Aisha rolled her eyes, while Kimberly giggled.
"Yeah," Adam agreed. "It isn't exactly as exciting as I thought it would be."
A loud thud caught the four adults' attention. They snapped their heads towards the mat where Carl was laid flat. Jason was standing next to him and bent down to help him up. But just as Carl stood up, Tommy kicked Damon into Carl, making the two young men fall to the ground.
"Well, it looks like Tommy and Jason are taking this mission more seriously," Aisha commented.
"You know," huffed Damon from the floor. He looked up at Tommy. "Your daughter is wrong about you, you're pretty good for someone who's nearing this forties."
Damon rolled out of the way as Tommy brought his foot down for a kick. Damon flipped up and the two continued their sparring.
"Hey, why don't you two take a break?" called out Kimberly. The four rangers stopped their sparring and walked towards the bar.
"Where's Tammie anyway?" asked Tommy.
"Home," Damon answered. "When I woke up at eight, she was still asleep. I tried waking her up, but she was really deep in sleep."
"Hmm…what have you two been doing?" Rocky asked, wiggling his eyebrows up and down.
"Hey!" Damon cried, throwing his hands up. "I spent the night looking over those stupid maps and I'm guessing Tammie snuck off to do her late daily three o'clock morning workout."
"Three o'clock work out?" asked Adam. "Where does she go?"
"Simulation room." Before Damon could continue, Tammie ran into the Juice Bar.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" cried Jason as Tammie almost bumped into him. "Where's the fire?"
Tammie gave them a really big smile. "Look what I found!"
She slapped down the newspaper on the table.
"A newspaper." Carl said, as everyone nodded. He grabbed the newspaper. "Good girl, now, let's see if you can fetch."
Tammie snatched it back from Carl and hit him on the head.
"Bad girl, bad girl!" Carl growled as he moved further away from her. Everyone laughed while Tammie only rolled her eyes.
"Listen," she commanded as she began to read from the newspaper. "'Archaeologist and researcher, Anton Mercer, has revealed his findings on one of his recent digs. Mercer dropped by Angel Grove a week ago and heard of the famous asteroid that hit the town a couple years back. Mercer and a team of his close friends and colleagues visited the site in the outskirts of Angel Grove, where they found four colored gems.'"
"What? Let me see that."
"Hey!" Tammie pouted as Damon took the paper from her.
"'The gems are now in Mercer's island facility, where his team is conducting further research on the gems.'"
"Damn!" cursed Jason.
"No wonder we couldn't find it!" Adam cried.
"So, now what?" asked Aisha asked. "How are we gonna get those gems?"
"Simple," Tammie said. Everyone looked at her. "Finish the article."
"Okay. 'Mercer is arranging a public viewing of his findings at the Reefside Museum this Saturday, October 11.'"
"Wait," Tommy said, looking up at his daughter. "Are you thinking of stealing the dinogems?"
"Well, they stole the gems from us first. So it isn't technically stealing, more like taking back what is ours, or in this case, Amon's."
"That's perfect!" Jason exclaimed. Tommy and Kimberly glared at him. "No, not the stealing part. But the part about the gems being in Reefside, that's where the next karate competition is being held."
"That is perfect," Aisha smiled. "Perfect timing."
"Uh guys, we still have the problem of getting the gems."
"I'm kinda leaning towards Tammie's idea," Rocky said. "Her reasoning sounds good."
"Man, how are we going to do that? First of all, there'll be a lot of people there and second of all, it'll probably be surrounded by security guards or something," Adam reasoned.
"And don't even suggest morphing and using our powers against them," Damon warned Tammie. He, like Tommy, didn't like the fact that Tammie was willing to steal the Dinogems.
"Well, we'll probably have to morph anyway," Tammie countered. "I mean, we got attacked a couple of days ago, so what makes you think these serpents won't be there for the gems either?"
"Damn," Carl said. "I agree with Tammie… I mean, if you guys could think of another way to get them then I'm all for it. But right now, Tammie's plan is all we got to go with…"
Damon sighed.
"Well boss?" Jason asked Damon.
"Tammie's plan is our last resort. I say let's hit the lab and contact Alex and Amon."
"And that's why we weren't able to find them," Damon said, looking up at the viewing screen. He and the other Rangers were back at the lab, explaining everything to Alex and Amon.
"Well, your highness, we now know where the gems are located," Amon said, his voice was now strong and clear again.
"Yeah, only problem is getting it back," Tommy added.
"That's not a problem right Alex?" Tammie spoke up. "I mean, I have a strong feeling that the bad guys will try and beat us to the gems. So all we have to be is be there and keep a look out. If they attack, we attack back. And if we succeed, we explain to Mercer the importance of the gems and-"
"What? And maybe he'll give it to us?" asked Carl. "Come on Tammie, be serious! Guys like Anton Mercer don't give up their findings that easily."
"Well, you got any better ideas?" Tammie asked, crossing her arms. Carl quickly tried to rack his brain for ideas but failed. "That's what I thought."
"Guys, stop! Arguing will not get us anywhere!" Damon shouted at them. The older Rangers stood in shock at the behavior of the three Elite Rangers. "Alex? Amon? Any ideas?"
The two men shook their heads.
"Okay, if you don't like my idea, why don't we just wing it?" Tammie finally said. "We'll all go there, fully alert and ready to morph and fight in case those monsters do come. If not, we'll consider ourselves lucky and push our luck in trying to convince Mercer to give us the gems."
The Rangers all nodded.
"I guess that's all we have for now," Jason said.
"Alright, I think it'll be best to leave tomorrow morning. We'll book rooms at a hotel in Reefside so we can stay for the weekend."
"Tomorrow morning?" asked Adam.
"Yeah, it's about a four hour drive right? So if we leave around eight, we'll arrive around lunch. Then it will give us a chance to look around the town, the museum, and maybe Mercer's facility."
All the Rangers agreed to the plan.
"Okay, now, let's go eat," suggested Rocky. The others laughed and stood up to leave.
"Good luck Rangers," Amon told them.
"We'll be keeping in touch. May the power protect you," Alex said.
The screen went blank and everyone proceeded up the stairs.
"You coming Tammie?" Aisha asked.
"Yeah, I'll be up soon, I just need to check something."
Damon dropped behind the group and turned to his wife.
"What's up?" he asked her.
"Nothing," she replied. "I just wanted to see something."
Damon waited for her to explain what. "Okay?"
Tammie nodded and turned around, pretending to look at the maps Damon had pinned up. Soon, she felt Damon's arms wrap around her.
"You're not still upset with me are you?"
"No, I'm not."
"Are you sure? You've been acting kind of…"
Tammie turned around and crossed her arms. "What?"
"I don't know. Sorta of distant? At least towards me. And I know you've been using the simulation to work out your frustrations."
Tammie sighed. "I'm fine okay? I've just been worried. About you, about my dad, my mom."
"Are you sure that's all that's bothering you? Nothing else?"
Tammie bit the inside of her cheek, debating whether or not to bring up her feelings about their lack of time together. "I'm sure."
Damon finally nodded. "Do you want something to eat? I'm sure Rocky left at least a little something for us."
The Silver Elite Ranger smiled but urged her husband on. "I'll be up soon."
Tammie waited until Damon was out of the lab. She closed the door and locked it. She made her way to the console and contacted Alex again.
"Yes my Queen? Did you forget something?" Alex asked once he saw that Tammie was alone.
"Yeah, I wanted to ask you and Amon something."
"What is it?" Amon asked as he appeared beside Alex.
"Well, it's strictly confidential and I don't want Damon or any of the other Rangers to know, well at least not now."
The two loyal men nodded their heads.
"Okay, about these Dinogems…"
