Disclaimer: I don't own the power rangers. Sadly.
*Italic Indicates thought
Chapter Nine: More Questions, Some Answers
A/N: Hello readers! Things will get good next chapter! Sorry this one is so short by the way. Enjoy!
"Chaos is an angel who fell in love with a demon." -Christopher Poindexter
Katie sat in the yard of the Shiba House staring at her hands. She sighed and set them down. "What's going on?" She rubbed her hand over the back of the opposite one again. Something weird is going on here. She stood up. She ended to be somewhere private. Unfortunately privacy wasn't something that was plentiful in the Shiba House. Just from the few days she's been there, every time she'd turned the corner, it seemed like someone was there.
She leaned back against the wall and sighed. What am I going to do? A loud alarm suddenly blared and she jumped a little. She got to her feet, wondering what was going on. A few seconds later all the rangers came running out of the house. She watched as they left the yard, running at a full sprint. She walked inside and saw Mentor Ji in the living room staring at a map. "Where did they go?" She was a little scared being alone with him.
"To fight," he answered simply. He looked up at her. "The gap alarms tell us when there's a nighlock attack."
"Oh."
"Come on," he took Katie's elbow gently. "You should go lay down again."
He lead her back to the infirmary room and she laid down. Katie resisted the urge to scream. She didn't want to lay down. She wanted answers. None the less though, she lay back and acted like it was a small relief to be resting. Ji nodded and left her alone. Katie listened to the deafening silence of the house. She sighed and at up suddenly. "Those books," she whispered. "The ones in the living room. Maybe they have information I want."
She got up and tip toed to the door. She looked in the hall and saw that Ji was nowhere to be seen. She made her way carefully down the hall, trying to remain silent. She made it to the living room and poked her head in. It was empty. She went over to the shelves and looked at books carefully. She looked at all of them, trying to decided which one could be useful. She grabbed a random one. "There's no title," she said. She opened it and gasped quietly. There was picture of her dad in it. Well...his nighlock form at least.
She looked at the page. "Kitsune is a nighlock with the ability to turn himself into a human." She gripped the book as she confused to read. "It is unknown if his human form will still set off a gap alarm. Kitsune is one of the few nighlocks with the capability to reproduce." She felt her muscles tense. She listened intently, trying to figure out if someone was going. Hearing silence, she went back to what she was doing. "Since he can reproduce and have a human form, it is assumed he could reproduce with a human." She shivered. "One of the lesser known facts of him is what powers his off-spring would receive if such a creature existed." She put the book away, unable to continue reading. "Creature," she whispered. "Is that what I am? A creature?"
She headed back to the infirmary room in case Ji discovered she was missing. She sat down on the bed shakily, feeling like she might faint. "Creature? Is that...is that what I am?" She sighed. "I need to talk to Serrator. Or Kit- my father. One of them."
-Love Is Blind-
The rangers arrived at the battle and say Serrator. "Let's morph," Jayden said.
"SAMURAIZERS! GO, GO, SAMURAI!"
"SAMURAI MORPHER, GOLD POWER!"
The rangers ran and surrounded Serrator, who regarded them all amusingly. "Hello rangers."
"What're you doing here Serrator?" Jayden asked.
"Just coming to get my prize."
"You mean Katie," Emily guessed.
"I couldn't care less what she's called."
"What do you want with her?!" Jayden demanded. "She has nothing to do with this!"
"Oh, you're wrong Red Ranger. That girl is much more than she seems."
"How?" Mike asked.
Serrator merely smiled. "Just give her to me."
"Never!" Jayden replied. "We will protect her. No matter what!"
Serrator grinned. "I'll remember that," he showered as he disappeared through a gap.
The rangers looked around. "Where'd he go?" Mia asked.
"Looks like he left," Mike responded. "Let's go home!"
"Why would've just leave?" Antonio asked. "And he didn't give us a straight answer about Katie ether."
"That's true," Kevin agreed. "But he's a nighlock. Who knows why he does anything."
The rangers de-morphed. "Let's go back," Jayden said. They started to follow him back to the Shiba House.
"Don't worry Jayden," Emily said, seeing their leader's agitation. "We'll protect Katie. Serrator won't hurt her as long as we're here."
"I know he won't. Because I will do everything in my power to make sure she's safe."
Antonio rolled his eyes a little. Of course he will.
-Love Is Blind-
In the middle do the night, Katie snuck out of the Shiba House again. For a house full of power rangers, it sure is easy to sneak in and out of here. She left the yard and headed into woods. She cousin her gap and disappeared into it. She landed in the Netherworld and looked around. "Kitsune?" she called. "Kitsune?" She heard a noise behind her and turned around.
"You called?" Kitsune asked.
Katie shivered. She was still getting used tit he fact that the fox creature she was staring at was her father. "I need to know what's happening to me. Just yesterday I had a claw. The it was gone. I'm seeing patches of my skin randomly change color or texture."
Kitsune laughed. "Oh my daughter, that is all apart of being a nighlock."
"What'd you mean?"
"My power as nighlock allows me to turn my form into a human. When my nighlock DNA mixed with your human DNA, it passed in some of my abilities. But there was a slight variation due to the human DNA in you."
"What're you talking about?"
"You have the ability to change your appearance at will."
"I do?"
"Not yet. But you will. A kuitsune-creature is not capable of using its full powers until it is full grown. If you were a full nighlock that would take a matter of hours. But your defective human side means you age slowly. You will be fully grown in three days."
"Three days?" Katie whispered. That's my 18th birthday! "Why do I exist?"
"What?"
"I'm half-human, half-nighlock. I wasn't created by accident. There was a reason for it. Why?"
"Because Serrator ordered me to. I sued to work for Master Xandred. I'd created a kitsune-creature for him centuries ago. But he was destroyed by the samurai rangers. After that faliure, I was forced to hide from him of be destroyed. That's how I found Serrator. Serrator kept me safe for centuries. In return, he asked me to create a kitsune-creature for him. I complied. I turned into my human form, and went to the human world where I created you. The original plan was for me to bring you back here where you could be trained into a weapon against the rangers. But when the last red ranger sealed Xandred away, he closed the gaps. I was trapped there."
Katie shook her head. Kitsune-creature, she thought. So I guess that's what I am. "I should go." She stood up and walked away, not giving Kitsune time to answer her. She passed through the gap again and back into the human world. She leaned against a tree.
"I'm not the first," she whispered. "The rangers' ancestors defeated the other one like me." She looked at her hand. "They would destroy me too." She thought of Jayden's kindness towards her and pushed it out of her mind. "I can't afford to be distracted by him. I have t stay focused. I'm a nighlock. He's a ranger. Nothing can be between us. Nothing."
She repeated the words in her mind. "I am a nighlock." The words felt foreign on her tongue. "Those rangers are my enemies. I am not one of them."
Hidden behind her in the shadows, Antonio's eyes widened and his heart rate picked up. Nighlock? he thought. She's a nighlock?!
