A/N: Thank you all for the beyond awesome reviews.
Chapter 8: When Water Isn't Enough
Tyzonn winced at the bright, yellow, harsh lights of the Command Center. When his eyes finally adjusted he slowly made out his surroundings.
The Mercurian could hear tap-tap-taping sounds of someone racing their fingers across a keyboard. Still not that coherent, Tyzonn only produced a small groan as a way of alerting Mr. Hartford of his current awake, yet painful state.
As inaudible, and low the groan was, Mr. Hartford picked up on it immediately and rushed over to the mercury ranger's side.
"Where – where . . . how?" He murmured. Each word hurt more than the last, his throat on fire.
"Don't strain. The Sentinel Knight brought you here, along with the others."
'The others? Rose and Dax made it?' Tyzonn thought, a small smile forming in the corners of his mouth. 'It hurts so much to move.' He noted as he tried to get up, but immediately decided against it.
"You were hurt pretty bad. You've been out a whole day, it's tomorrow night." Andrew told him, saying each word softly, and slowly so that he was heard clearly. "I'm surprised you're even up. But that might be on account of your alien DNA, your ability to recoup from a battle may be faster than the average human's."
While Tyzonn didn't mind his mentor's incessant need to babble, he really only cared to know one thing. "Where's Dax and Rose? Are they okay?"
The mentioning of the two youths' names instantly brought tears to the older Hartford's eyes, but the archeologist refused to shed anymore; thus, he blinked back the few threatening to spill. The billionaire took a deep breath and regained his composure.
Tyzonn watched the older gentleman intently. He hoped that the tears he saw brimming were tears of joy, but deep down in the pit of his stomach, he knew they weren't.
"Rose and Dax . . . Rose and Dax are . . ." Mr. Hartford stumbled, the rest of the words caught in his throat.
'Are what?! Are hurt? In a coma? Paralyzed? Are captured? Are fine? Are dead?' The Mercuria native thought, trying to finish Andrew's sentence.
The archeologist gulped, and decided to try one last time. "Ty, we haven't found them yet? Cole and Billy are searching as we speak." He smiled, trying to ease the painful news. Sadly, Mr. Hartford's attempt failed.
The Mercurian closed his eyes and fell silent, trying to process what he was just told. He was alive and safe and they – well, that was still left to be answered. They haven't been found yet, Mr. Hartford said. As optimistic as that was suppose to leave him, he didn't feel any better, if anything, he felt worse . . . much worse.
"Who are Cole and Billy?" Tyzonn asked, opening his eyes again.
"They're rangers. Like the others were from last time we were . . . ." The archeologist thought a moment, carefully choosing his words. ". . .in a predicament." He finished. Mr. Hartford felt that he had to say something else, but what? "Once a ranger, always a ranger." Is what came to his mind first, unfortunately, it didn't make Tyzonn feel more at ease because another group of rangers were here to fix the mess the Overdrive team had somehow gotten into, again. If anything, it reminded Tyzonn of something that would be written on a tombstone of a fallen ranger. 'Is that all I'm good at is getting into messes. Am I not anything but a failure? It seems I do nothing but make things worse, always leaving it up to someone else to clean up. Why can't I be stronger? Had I been . . . Dax and Rose would be here. I failed at leading them, and keeping yet another promise. I'm nothing but a failure, who should be in their spots, not mine.' Tyzonn ranted to himself.
The memory of both teams working together to defeat the Evil Alliance filled the older Hartford with joy until the realization that this time was nothing like last time, and he was once again burdened with the possible chance he would be writing two obituaries and making two painful calls to oblivious families. He had been lucky no news reporters had caught wind of this, but even that little break, didn't make him feel any better.
Andrew's mind wandered to the question that had been plaguing him since the beginning of this ordeal. Why was Mack affected? It didn't make sense to him, yet there was no doubt that Mack had been turned evil. But androids can't be swayed by some hocus-pocus, right? A lot of things didn't add up when it came to Mack, but presently, that question would have to wait to be answered. Right now, he had more important things to worry about.
Mr. Hartford heard the familiar thumping of Spencer coming down the Command Center stairs and went to await his arrival. Tyzonn watched on. His muscles ached so badly they felt numb. The only thing he was able to do was tilt his head so he could still see Mr. Hartford.
Andrew hoped that his friend would have some good news . . . he hoped.
Spencer came to the last step, stopping abruptly when he found the archeologist was waiting at the bottom.
"Heard you coming?" Andrew said in a soft voice, as if reading the butler's mind.
Spencer finished coming down the last step, and looked his long time friend in the eyes.
"Well?" The billionaire asked, rather eager, but spoke in a whisper so Tyzonn couldn't hear.
Spencer shook his head. "Nothing sir." He answered, also in a whisper. Mr. Hartford looked away in disbelief.
'Still nothing.' Andrew repeated in his mind.
"Sir, it's getting late –"
"Call'em back. They won't make any leeway in the dark." Mr. Hartford interrupted.
Tyzonn didn't need to hear them to know Rose and Dax were still out there. The look on Spencer and Mr. Hartford's face said it all. 'The longer they're out there, the less of a chance they'll find them alive. I should've pushed myself harder – went faster. Why couldn't I have just made it a few seconds earlier? I could have stopped them.' A lone tear ran down the alien's face. Tyzonn couldn't answer his question though; slowly the pain he felt took hold of him once again and he drifted out of consciousness and into a deep sleep.
Hartford Mansion, Living room
The retro rangers were scattered in the living room, Mr. Hartford in the center addressing his new team. "That's about all that's happened." He finished. His face fell from retelling the suffering they endure the past week.
"Thanks for debriefing us on the others, and what's happened." Syd bit her bottom lip, contemplating whether if giving her sympathy was appropriate. The SPD Pink Ranger had no prior knowledge of this battle, anything about this, what happened after, or even between; she was constantly walking on eggshells. What to say, and what not to say. "Mr. Hartford we're going to do everything we can." She said, finally deciding that wasn't a future altering comment.
"Thank you." The older gentleman said softly.
Spencer had walked in with refreshments and snacks. The butler seemed to be unphased by what had happened the past couple of days, but that wasn't true. In attempts to cope he only pushed himself harder at doing his job, cleaning things already clean, and reorganizing what wasn't disorganized in the first place. Spencer kept as busy as he could doing menial things around the mansion, but even with all the activity he did, he still couldn't stop himself from thinking about Rose and Dax. All of sudden, after last night, everything reminded him of the blue and pink ranger. From books to laughter, it didn't really matter, anything made him want to weep. He finished placing the trays down on the coffee table, and left quietly as if never there.
"Well there's seven of us now if you count Tyzonn. Eight! If you count the Sentinel Knight. We have the advantage." Dustin exclaimed. The Sentinel Knight nodded.
"Yes, but . . . we won't be able to fight as one. Will we?" Madison spoke up, looking at Mr. Hartford and the Sentinel Knight, who were standing next to each other.
"Whadaya mean?" Commented Conner from where he was leaning against the pool table.
"We have too many important tasks that not any one could take a back seat to another." Billy declared.
"We need to get that key." Syd interjected.
"We have the broken one, but we need the other if we're going to revert the others back to normal." The motor cross racer added, looking at the others.
"Speaking of which, what about the others? I'm sure they aren't going to wait for us to make a move?" Madison said from the couch she was sitting on.
"No, after what has occurred, I doubt they'll wait, if anything, we should anticipate being on the defensive." Billy hypothesized.
"That's great and all, but we need to find Dax and Rose. Everyday they're out there is a day less they'll survive." Cole said firmly. He hated to bring it up, as the topic became taboo the night they only returned with one of the three rangers, but the Blazing Lion couldn't get them out of his head.
"Guess we have a lot to do." Conner sighed.
"We have to hurry if we're going to find them." Syd urged, from her spot on the other couch. Syd had kept quiet about being from the future, not wanting to hear Sky later about not being careful. 'That's all I need is another lecture from the "Commander".' She thought, with a roll of her eyes.
"Yes, it's been at least thirty-six hours, surely dehydration has set in, the normal human can't go more than forty-eight hours without water before he or she starts hallucinating, going in and out of consciousness, losing muscle control, and coherent speech. We don't even know what type of condition they're in, injury wise." Billy offered, letting the warm morning sun blanket him and Cole, who stood beside eachother. The two also enjoying the breeze the opened French doors welcomed. Dustin had stationed himself between the two girls, but chose to stand behind the couches; he shifted his weight nervously from one foot to the other.
"We'll find them." Cole said with confidence, he narrowed his eyes trying to make out the person coming from behind Mr. Hartford.
The Mercurian released an incredulous huff. "We'll be lucky to find them in one piece." Tyzonn said with a morbid tone, every movement accompanied by an immeasurable pain shooting up and down his body, especially his back where layers and layers of bandaging hugged his torso.
The mercury ranger had been listening from the top of the stairs of the Command Center, half resting, half eavesdropping. Everyone stared at the alien, mouth agape, like they had been punched in the gut, and had the wind knocked out of them.
"Ty . . . they . . ." Andrew could hardly believe what he heard. He was supposed to be their friend. How could he have such a bleak, pessimistic outlook?
"I was on a Rescue Squad on Mercuria, remember? Before I, too, let them down." He mumbled. He crossed over to the pool table leaning against the adjacent side Conner was leaning on. Tyzonn stared into the ocean blue carpet. 'Blue . . . ocean . . . where Rose and Dax now rest.' He looked up at he others, whose eyes never strayed from him. "It's been thirty-six hours, like you said, your chances of finding them alive are cut in half every twelve. We have less than a twelve percent chance of finding them." He sighed.
"How can you say that? That means there's still a chance! How can you have so little faith?" Madison blurted out, a few tears escaping.
"The chance –" Tyzonn began, but was cut off.
"Even with a slim chance, that only means we have to work harder." Billy interjected.
"Yeah, you have to believe in yourself as a person and a ranger that we're going to find them and persevere. You have to believe in them to hold on." Syd said, also blinking back tearing.
"When the chips are down, is when you dig deep and pull out a wild card, the most miraculous things can happen then." Cole chimed in.
"I don't know what food has to do with it, but you can't give up. When you give up on yourself, you give up on possibly winning the race." The yellow ranger remarked, throwing a fist into the air.
"Yeah. Never give up, never surrender." Conner said, putting his hand on his new friend's shoulder. Cole smiled at him, remembering all too well, that Danny and Max would say that all the time when things got rough.
Tyzonn just stared at the Red Dino Ranger's hands, and after a few seconds, Conner slowly retracted his. "You weren't there." The mercury ranger said grimily. "You didn't watch them take that blast." He continued, his voice only getting louder and more defiant. "You know better than anyone here, what that thing was capable of – you built it." The Mercurian turned to the creator of the Drill Blaster; Andrew only stared back in shock. Was Tyzonn blaming him? The mercury ranger turned back to the group as a whole.
"That weapon was made to destroy monsters with skin ten – fifty times as thick as a human's. Dax and Rose weren't even morphed! Did you see what it did to that cliff?!" He asked rhetorically, pointing behind him, regardless if that was or wasn't the true direction of the now, non-existent cliff. "The cliff! It's gone!" Tyzonn shouted to no one in particular, falling to his knees, on all fours, his head bowed as fresh tears fell. The carpet gripped tightly between each finger. "You didn't see it." He sobbed. "You didn't watch them be blow apart. The cloud of charred earth . . . it was huge." He took a quivering breath. "I didn't – I didn't make, damn it! I let the ones I care about most die again." Now the Mercurian couldn't hold it in any longer, the tears came freely, and uncontrolled. He lowered his head into his right forearm and began to pound the floor unmercifully with his left fist.
The others watched on, their hearts aching as they watched someone they hardly knew mourn for his friends. Even though, they weren't sure that the blue and pink ranger were dead, their hearts sank in their stomach, watching Tyzonn's muscles shake in pain and anguish. The motley bunch began to feel the overbearing weight of the crisis resting more and more on them. Maybe they only had seven, after all.
Moltor's Layer
"Well?" Moltor inquired when Mack, Ronny, and Will returned.
"Nothing. The house that the thing rested in was knocked over and smashed into pieces." Ronny answered.
"Probably some animal or something." Will commented.
"Or something. I bet they have it." Mack insisted.
"You think?" the yellow ranger asked, her curiosity piqued.
"Come on, it's them. They probably do have it. Surely Rose figured it out." The red ranger smirked.
"Yeah, but we destroyed Rose and Dax, and may I say, we did a splendid job at it." Ronny chirped. The black ranger let out a small chuckle at her words.
"Yeah, but Ty's still around. I bet he has it, remember he wasn't there to battle." The android reminded them.
"Hey, it made our job easier. It's not like he's going to put up much of a fight." The black ranger jested.
"Still, we can use him to get the key." Mack said, a plan in the works.
"Then what?" The racecar driver asked innocently.
"We get rid of him." The red ranger said flatly. All three laughed at their plan. They turned toward their leader, seeing what he thought.
Moltor started to laugh manically at his new idea. "I just thought of something better." He paused, as the trio got closer to hear better, excitement shown on their faces. "Instead of calling him out, why don't you just visit and while your there, you can "kindly" repossess those other jewels. I already have the crown. It'll be perfect. With all five jewels and the crown, we'll be unstoppable." Moltor roared.
"Sounds like a plan." Ronny giggled.
"Kill two birds with one stone. Wait, we already did that." Will laughed, Ronny and Mack joining in.
"I enjoy visiting friends . . . or a friend." Mack retorted.
Mid Afternoon at the Hartford Mansion, Living room
Some how Syd, and Madison were able to calm down Tyzonn and escort him into the kitchen where Spencer made him something to eat.
They reconvened in the living room shortly after taking their original position, Tyzonn listening from the kitchen. "What now?" Conner asked. He waited a moment or two, before speaking up again. "We need to devise some kind of plan. I've learned some things as a ranger and one of them is you don't want to go into a fight unprepared."
A few gave out a sigh, as others just went immediately into thinking of a strategy. It was midday and was beginning to get oppressively hot and humid out.
"Anybody got any ideas because I don't. I mean clearly they have no problem vaporizing their own friends. I mean, they put some of the monsters I've fought to shame. I mean Lother – oopf." Dustin grunted, rubbing his side. The Blue Mystic Ranger glared at him, throwing a sideways glance toward the mercury ranger who could hear everything being said from where he was sitting. "Sorry." He laughed nervously.
"I know I said we should go in already assuming a defensive position, but maybe we could take them by surprise by taking the offensive." Billy suggested, getting a few nods of approval.
Madison, who other than knocking the wind out of the Yellow Wind Ninja, had been unusually quiet. She pondered her idea a little longer before speaking up. "One of the first things we were taught about magic was how elements reacted." By now, Tyzonn had rejoined the group, taking place next to Dustin, behind the girls. "What elements worked well with each other, what ones didn't, and what ones nullified each other." She stood up and started to pace.
"You guys have been fighting non-stop for the past week." Tyzonn watched completely numb, but also wondering where she was going with this, other than telling him what he already knew. "Well, I learned that most times if an enemy is using, for instance, fire, then to use water that will nullify his fire attack. But sometimes that doesn't work, like you guys. You three are the opposites of those three, and I don't mean weak vs. strong. I mean attack style and technique. Sometimes you just need a bigger flame. Maybe instead of fighting fire with water, you need to fight fire with fire." It was all coming together. She finally understood why the Sentinel Knight chose them, but why not just tell them from the beginning.
"So I guess this means you have a plan?" Conner prodded.
The film director smiled. "Yup. Cole, Billy, I think you two should continue to look for Dax and Rose. We can find them. Cole, you are by far the best at tracking, better then any electronic equipment, and Billy, your abundant knowledge in science and medicine, you'll be able to start assessing the damage done, and start treating them immediately. I will go with the Sentinel Knight to retrieve the key from Flurious."
"I will go, too." Tyzonn interrupted, catching everyone off guard.
"Ty, I think . . ." Syd began without really needing to indicate why she thought it was bad idea he goes out into battle again, as Tyzonn flinched in pain, clutching his sides at that moment.
When the pain subsided, the alien spoke up again. "Please. I . . . need to do this. I need to know I still can. That I'm not as worthless as I feel I am."
Madison understood how he felt. She never truly "lost" a friend, but she knew what it felt like to feel weak, and worthless. "Okay, so Ty, myself, and the Sentinel Knight will go after the key. My element is water anyway, and water is water, whether it is in liquid form or not." When no one objected, although she was sure Mr. Hartford was about to, she continued. Well, was going to, until Syd broke in.
"And that leaves us?" She said slowly, as if unsure herself.
"You guys are going to be the fire part." Madison replied.
"So, what are we suppose to do? Wait for them?" Dustin asked, a little disgusted with his assignment. He wanted to be where the action was, not sitting and waiting for it.
"Trust me, when they do finally come out of hiding. You're gonna have your hands full. It will be three on three." Tyzonn chimed in. "Be prepared, they won't have any mercy on you."
"Since when does anyone whose evil have mercy on their opponent?" The soccer star quipped.
"How long do you think they'll stay hidden?" Dustin asked.
The Command Center alarms answered the motor cross racer with their wailing of danger.
"Apparently, not long." Conner remarked.
End Chapter 8
A/N: Hope you all liked it. Please leave a review. My only request, besides writing a review is letting me know if I did well writing the characters. Thanks for reading.
