Setting: Dino Thunder; starts with the 'Moon Mission' and continues on through DT.
Story Summary: Through unexpected situations, some of the former rangers are called back to action. They did their duty and life went on, but trouble stirs as a former ranger stumbles across a new power source. With the help of friends—near and far—they will create and mentor three teens into becoming the newest members of the ranger family. This is the story of the Dino Thunder Rangers.
Chapter: 10: Escalating Situations
Episode Counterpart: 17: The Missing Bone, with parts of Fighting Spirit
Chapter Word Count: 11, 264
A/N: so…yeah…it's late…like super late and I am so very sorry but, it's here now and I really hope you guys like it. To everyone who has read, reviewed and pretty much loved this story so far and have waited patiently for the new update, I thank you. You guys are awesome!
Disclaimer: Power Rangers and all its affiliates belong to Haim Saban. I am not making any money from this story and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
"Speaking"
"Speaking over the phone"
'Thinking'
O.P.D.: Monday 28th April, '14.
Previously on ADD;
-the Astro/Space rangers decide to stay to help fix Tommy's inability to de-morph
-Trent decides to leave town after fighting Kim
-Mesogog reassess his plans and decides he'd rather have the pink ranger on his side, or not at all
-a meteor crashes in the forest and Billy and Andros figure out that it could possibly help Tommy
-the rangers and Kim go to the meteor, but gets into a fight with Elsa
-the meteor lets loose a light that touches the rangers and Kim, and as a result, they go through a personality change
-the rangers blow up the meteor, reversing the effects on themselves
-Trent finds out a secret of Mesogog's
-Billy, Trini and Andros use a piece of the meteor to get Tommy out of his suit, but now he's invisible
"This is not happening," Kim muttered as she started pacing, "This is not happening."
Tommy looked at his fiancée with sadness, "Beautiful-"
"No!" Kim cut him off. "Don't you dare 'Beautiful' me Tommy! I am so sick of this! I'm tired of shit happening to us! I just-I can't," she let out a sigh, "I can't do this. I can't."
Everyone in the room looked at the former pink ranger with different levels of alarm.
"Sis," Aisha stepped forward, reaching out to gently touch Kim on her shoulder. "What do you mean you can't do this?"
Kim stepped out of reach of Aisha's touch, "Don't!"
She whirled around and quickly ran towards the stairs, not looking back once as she made her way up into the house.
"What just happened?" Zack asked.
Tommy let out a sigh. "She's just frustrated…and I don't blame her."
"I'll talk to her," Aisha said, "You guys try to come up with a way to fix this new mess."
With that, she turned and followed after Kim, Trini, Kat and Tanya following her.
"We need to fix this," Jason sighed, "Now."
"Agreed," Billy nodded.
"But how do we do that?" Ethan asked.
"That's what we have to figure out," Tommy answered.
~…~
The girls made their way up the stairs and up into Kim and Tommy's bedroom.
When they opened the door, they saw their friend lying on her side, her back to the doorway.
"Kim?" Aisha called out, "Can we come in?"
Kim remained silent for a few seconds before answering softly, "Yeah."
The girls entered, with Kat closing the door behind her, and made their way to the bed, crowding around the girl.
"Want to talk about it?" Trini asked.
"About what?" Kim retorted almost angrily, "That once again the powers that be chose us to screw with? Or how it's not enough that Tommy had been stuck in his suit, he's now invisible? I am just so sick of this shit!"
The girls were seriously surprised by their friend's outburst, and yet, on some level, they were not. They all had levels of patience and calm, and most would say that out of all of them, Trini was the calmest one.
But Kim, she was different. She was different in that she was always the one who had a smile on her face; the one who went out of her way to make someone feel welcome, the one who really was the friendliest of them all and who never turned her back on anyone, no matter what.
With everything that had happened to her since she became ranger, she had always just went with it, quick to get back on her feet—with the exception of what had happened in Florida and the first few weeks/months after—but, everyone had their limits.
Kim had shown signs before of almost reaching hers when Tommy had been trapped in amber and then stuck in his suit, but those times, she had accepted and gotten over it. But now, it seemed like everything was coming to a head, or starting to, and this time, she couldn't just smile and move on…at least, not yet.
It seemed she had a lot to get off her chest, and they needed to let her do it. Which is why they didn't say, or do anything to stop her. They let her continue.
"It's like we have a fucking sign on our backs—a fucking target—that says, 'here we are! Come get us!'" Kim ranted, "Ugh! Isn't it enough that I almost died?! Isn't it enough that I was raped?! That we lost Zordon?! That Tommy almost died?! That he was stuck in amber and then trapped in his suit and now this?! When the fuck is the ranger life going to be done with us?! Why can't it just leave us alone?!"
At that, she broke down and immediately, the girls rushed to comfort her.
None of them said anything, not even an 'it's going to be ok' because they knew nothing they said would do anything. Telling Kim it was going to be ok was not a lie, but it wasn't the complete truth either.
So, instead, they just held her and offered their support and comfort and let her cry.
It took about twenty minutes for Kim's crying to lessen.
"Are you ok now?" Kat asked when the tears had finally stopped and all that was left was some slight sniffling.
"Yeah," Kim replied softly with a nod. She looked up at her best friends. "Sorry for," she waved a hand, "all this."
"It's ok," Tanya assured her with a smile. "Kim, if anyone deserves to breakdown and feel angry towards the Powers, it's you and Tommy."
"She's right sis," Trini nodded in agreement. "You guys have been through too much, as a couple and on your own."
"I know," Kim sighed as she cuddled against Aisha. "And I didn't really mean it, I mean I did, but I-
"You were frustrated," Aisha finished for her. "I would be too. Tri and Tanya are right; you more than the others should be frustrated with everything that has happened, and especially with this latest snag. We don't blame you."
"Yeah, I mean," Kat picked up, "if it was anyone of us, we'd be reacting the same way."
Kim groaned, "But this is my second freak out."
"And well deserved," Trini countered. "To be honest, I'm surprised you hadn't had a breakdown before."
The other girls nodded in agreement.
"Ok," Tanya clapped her hands, "So let's go back downstairs and brainstorm with the guys to figure out how to get Tommy out of his suit."
"Sounds like a good plan to me," Kat grinned.
Kim let out a laugh and allowed the girls to pull her from the bed. The five girls headed back down to the basement, re-joining the others.
"Are you ok?" Tommy asked as he walked over and placed a hand on Kim's shoulder to let her know he was there.
Kim reached up a hand and placed it over his own, "Yeah, I'm fine. I just had a mini-breakdown."
"Which she was entitled to," Trini added on with a small smile.
"No argument there," Zack nodded, "but she's cool, right?" he turned to Kim, "You're ok now?"
"Yeah," Kim nodded. "So…let's get to figuring out how to get Tommy visible again."
"Sounds like a plan to me Beautiful," Tommy squeezed Kim's shoulder.
"Could we use the laser again?" Adam asked, looking from Billy to Andros.
Billy shook his head, as did Andros.
"No," Billy answered, "I mean, we can, but we still don't know what exactly caused Tommy to go invisible in the first place and until we figure that out, it would be too risky to use the laser."
"Especially with the settings it has on it," Andros picked up, "at this point, the laser was reconfigured to get Tommy out of his suit, which it did, but there was a backfire. So, like Billy said, we need to figure out the backfire, figure out what caused it and how to reverse it."
"And on top of that," Trini added on, "there's the possibility that if we do figure it out, the laser might not even be needed. But if it is, then we'll have to reconfigure it, again, in order to use it; and that might be the easy part, but it'll have to wait until we know why Tommy's invisible."
"Ok," Rocky nodded, "not to sound discouraging or anything, but, that sounds like it won't be as easy or as quick as you guys figured out the last two problems."
"It probably won't be," Andros agreed with a try.
"We'll figure it out," Zhane smiled, "things seem a little bleak right now, but we'll figure out what to do. We always do. We're the rangers-well, former rangers, but still."
"So what do we do in the mean time?" Carlos asked, looking around at everyone.
"Go on like normal?" Karone shrugged, "until those three," she gestured to her brother, Billy and Trini, "figure out what went wrong and how to fix it, there's really nothing else we can do."
"This is so cool, yet weird," Ethan muttered drawing the attention of everyone. "I mean, Dr O is invisible; like seriously, invisible!"
"It's like that Kevin Bacon movie Hollow Man," Conner commented with a grin, "except Dr O's not evil." He frowned, "Wait…he used to give us these horrible quizzes, so maybe he's a little evil."
A smack sounded in the room and Conner's head jerked forward a bit.
"OW!" Conner cried out as he reached up a hand to rub the back of his head. "See? Evil."
Kira let out a small laugh even as she cuddled into her boyfriend. A few months ago, something like that would've made her freak out, but now, she knew better; she knew that a hit like that wasn't done with malicious intent, but rather playfully, as a way to show care and friendship.
"You deserved that," Ethan rolled his eyes.
"Hey," Kat looked over at the Space rangers, "We're sorry that it's gonna take you guys a while to get back home."
The Space rangers exchanged looks.
"Well actually," Carlos started, "the thing of it is, we're not going back to KO-35."
"What?" the others, minus the teens, exclaimed.
The Space rangers laughed at the looks they were receiving.
"Yeah," Ashley nodded, "I mean, don't get us wrong, we love living on KO-35, but being here these last few weeks just felt right to us."
"KO-35 is amazing," Cassie picked up, "but this, this is home. And we miss it."
"Well what about you three?" Jason asked, looking at Karone, Andros and Zhane.
"Yeah," Rocky nodded, "I mean, you guys are actually from KO-35. Are you guys cool with this?"
"We are," Zhane nodded. "We all talked about it, especially me, Andros and Karone. This is what we want to do. Yeah we'll miss our home planet, but, you guys have the teleporting thing down, so we can visit whenever we want."
"Plus all of our friends are here," Karone added on. "In all the times we've been to Earth, we've never really spent this long here in one go. But being here, being around all of you," she shrugged, "being here, this place, it feels more like home than KO-35 ever did."
"So you guys are staying on Earth for good?" Kira asked.
"Yep," Andros nodded with a smile.
"What exactly are you guys going to do?" Zack asked, "I mean, job wise and all that?"
"Well," Ashley looked over at Aisha and Tanya, "I was actually hoping to work at the vet with Aisha and Tanya…if there're any openings?"
Both girls grinned.
"Oh definitely," Aisha answered, "And even if there wasn't, we'd find one for you."
"I kinda want to work at the café," Cassie piped up, "the last few times we helped out was a lot of fun."
"And I filled out an application where Rocky works," Carlos revealed.
"What?" Rocky turned shocked eyes to the other. "When?"
"Last week," Carlos grinned, "I didn't want to say anything until I knew for sure if I had the job or not."
"Do you?" Kat asked.
"I have an interview on Wednesday," Carlos said.
"Well what about you Karone?" Adam asked.
"I was thinking I'd help out at the dojo," Karone told them, "Since Kat's gonna go on maternity leave soon, I thought I'd be her replacement."
"So that's why you've been coming to see me and hang out in the office and basically sitting in on my classes?" Kat asked with an amazed chuckle.
"Yeah," Karone gave a sheepish grin.
"And what about you TJ?" Tommy asked. "Zhane?"
"I got a job at a dealership, working as a mechanic," TJ said.
"I don't know what I want to do yet," Zhane answered with a shrug. "So until I figure that out, I think I'll just shuffle between the dojo and the café."
"And I can work here, or find something else to do," Andros said.
"Wow," Tanya murmured, "sounds like you guys are all set. You've really and truly given this some thought and have already worked things out."
"Yep," Ashley nodded with a smile.
"I'm glad," Kim said, "it'll be nice having you guys around."
"So!" Rocky clapped his hands, "now that we've got all that out of the way, what do we do now?"
"What we always do," Jason answered, "take a break and then go back at it."
~…~
On the opposite end of the spectrum, things were not going well for the villains.
Neither Trent, nor Mesogog, could figure out a solid plan that would help them destroy the rangers, and Trent still had no idea what to do with the information about Anton Mercer being Mesogog.
In Mesogog's lair, the Dino-villain was holding a meeting with his two subordinates.
"Why I have two incompetent fools such as yourselves working for me, I have no idea," Mesogog hissed, "Every plan you have come up with has done nothing to ensure my victory against the rangers."
"We've tried Master," Zeltrax answered, though he kept his head down. "It seems as if nothing we do inflicts much damage, or if it does, they are able to get around it quickly."
"And that pink ranger," Elsa sneered, "she is different to the teen brats. The way she moves tells me that she was a ranger herself before. But the power that she exudes, it's more than those brats."
Mesogog went silent as he thought on Elsa's words. He knew the pink ranger was extremely powerful; he had sensed it that first time they met…the day he had taken Dr Oliver. Not only had the woman not been afraid of him, but she had been able to hold her own against him. She was very competent, more competent than the fools in front of him.
Which is why he wanted her on his side. What he could accomplish with her power would be unbelievable.
But it was something that would not happen.
No matter what, the girl would not be cowed; she fought and defeated Elsa more than once and from his observations of when she joined the rangers in fight, she was able to fight against his Tyrannodrones even better than those simpering rangers did.
No, she was too headstrong to be placed under his control. So she had to be destroyed. Something that he was loathed to admit was just as difficult.
"I am running out of patience with these rangers and with you," Mesogog hissed, "I want the rangers destroyed. Come up with a plan to destroy them, or you will be the one facing destruction."
With that, he left the room, leaving the two on the floor. The moment he left, Elsa and Zeltrax turned to look at each other.
"How are we supposed to do that?" Elsa hissed, "We've tried everything and nothing worked!"
"You do not need to tell me that!" Zeltrax snapped at her.
Mesogog has issued a warning to them like this before, but this time, they could feel the truth in his words; either they figured out how to destroy the rangers, or they would be destroyed.
Zeltrax ignored Elsa. His mind was too busy trying to figure out how to prevent his own destruction. He was just as tired of the rangers as their Master was. And he hated them for it; he hated them because he couldn't find a way to destroy them…especially Oliver. He despised the man and would love nothing more than to do so, but it seemed like nothing worked.
It was as if the man himself was invincible and that just fuelled his hatred. He had to figure out a way to get to the rangers, to destroy them and it had to be soon.
~…~
While Elsa and Zeltrax were dealing with their situation, Trent had his own. He'd been sitting on the Anton/Mesogog secret for a while now and he still couldn't figure out a way to manipulate it to his advantage.
He could've blackmailed Mesogog, or Anton, into doing what he wanted but he didn't. He may be evil, but he was still Anton's son and he knew Anton better than anyone else. The man was not easily rattled and he was not easily manipulated; he wouldn't be the business man he was, if he could be taken advantage of. And add in now the fact that he had an evil alternate, it made the chance of manipulating him even more unlikely.
And on top of that, something was different with the gem. Or maybe it was him. But whatever it was, it was causing some kind of rift in him; it's like he could feel a fight going on, a tug of war, between the gem and himself. He literally felt as if good and evil were warring within him, and he had no idea what to do about it.
But he had to figure it out because the good in him was slowly winning out and he couldn't have that.
~…~
A few weeks later, Anton Mercer—who was the sub this time—took the senior class on a field trip to his museum.
"This is so cool," Ethan gushed as he walked alongside his two best friends.
Conner, an arm around Kira's shoulders, grinned over at the teen, "No surprise that you think so."
"Dude," Ethan rolled his eyes, "you can't fool me now; I know that there's someone studious underneath all that."
"He's right you know," Kira grinned as she leaned in closer to her boyfriend.
"Shut up," Conner grinned, cheeks flushing lightly. "I still can't believe that Anton Mercer is our sub though."
"I know what you mean," Kira nodded. "And that he brought us here, to his museum."
Cassidy and Devon sidled up to them, "So, what are you guys talking about? Is it about the fact that our teacher brought us here? I mean, I like that we're out of school, but to bring us to this boring place of all places, I just don't-
"Cassidy, shut up, please," Kira groaned at the other girl. "It's bad enough we have to be here, I really don't want to add your whining to it as well."
Cassidy huffed and stomped off, Devon throwing a grin at the trio before following after her.
"Thank you!" Conner breathed out.
Ethan snickered and shook his head. "Could've been a bit nicer."
Kira threw him a flat look, "This is Cassidy we're talking about; you have to be full on blunt about it."
"Guys!" Anton yelled back at the trio. "Keep up with the class!"
The three exchanged looks before hurrying to catch up to their classmates.
Sometime later, the three separated, mixing in with the other students.
Unfortunately for Kira, Cassidy had found her again.
"So Kira," Cassidy started.
"What do you want Cassidy?" Kira sighed, without turning to look at her classmate.
"You know, you don't have to be so mean," Cassidy replied back.
"I'm not being mean Cassidy," Kira rolled her eyes, "All I did was ask a question." She turned around to continue, but stopped when movement caught her eyes. "What the hell?"
Ignoring Cassidy, she took off to where she had seen the movement.
"Wait, where are you going?" Cassidy demanded as she whirled around to follow the other girl.
"Look Cassidy just go back to the class," Kira shouted back at the girl. She turned a corner and saw what looked like a Tyrannodrone, but it was a bit different.
"Why? Seriously, where are you going?" Cassidy asked, still following.
"I have to find a bathroom!" Kira responded.
"Oh me too!" Cassidy grinned.
Kira held in the groan she desperately wanted to let out. Instead, she stopped and turned towards the blonde, forcing her to stop. "Look Cassidy, how about you go in that direction to find a bathroom and I'll go this way…just in case."
Cassidy frowned, "That doesn't even make sense!"
'I don't want to this…I really don't; but if that really was a Tyrannodrone, then it's better for her not to be around.'
"You're right," Kira nodded, "It doesn't make sense. But did you even think I told you that because I don't want to be around you, right now? God Cassidy, you're an annoying pain the ass and I just want you to not be here!"
Cassidy flinched back from the words before throwing a sneer at Kira and then stomping off.
Pushing away the guilt at hurting the girl, Kira continued on with her search. She turned down a hallway and came to an open door and cautiously entered.
She looked around, saw nothing really out of place, except for a crate at the far wall of the room. Throwing another look around, she stepped inside. She hadn't gotten more than a few steps forward when she was grabbed.
"Hey!" she struggled as the two creatures tightened their grip on her. "Let me go you freaks!"
'Bring her to me.'
The voice made Kira freeze, stopping her struggle immediately. "Who said that?"
No answer was given, instead, the creatures used her sudden stillness to drag her forward, towards the crate. As they got closer, Kira saw that there was the fossil of a dinosaur resting just behind it. Her struggling resumed.
"What do you want with me?" Kira demanded from the dinosaur.
Instead of a reply, Kira felt something in her mind.
Flashback
….
"What is this?" Kira held out the bone to her left side, still feeling startled at the fact that she could hear her teacher, but couldn't see him.
"Be careful with that," Tommy said, reaching out to take the bone from her. He walked over to another box and placed it inside.
"Why?" Kira asked, following the seemingly floating bone.
"It's the missing part of a very dangerous creature known as Fossilador," Tommy told her. "This is the last piece that will bring it back to life."
Kira stared at the bone.
…
End flashback
'Yes…you are the one. You will retrieve that bone for me.'
Kira let out a pained moan before going slightly limp. Her eyes closed and when they reopened, they were white with just the black of the pupil before they shifted back to normal.
"I will retrieve that bone for you Master," Kira replied monotonously.
'Good girl. Now go and do my bidding, but do not bring suspicions until yourself.'
"Yes Master," Kira answered and turned to leave the room.
She re-joined her classmates, seeing the dark look Cassidy shot her, but ignoring it.
"You ok?" Conner asked after a while.
"Why wouldn't I be?" Kira didn't look at him.
"Well you've been kinda quiet for a while now," Ethan was the one to answer.
"Yes well, I'm fine," Kira told the two. "I'm just ready to get out of here."
"Can understand that," Conner nodded in agreement, as did Ethan.
Half an hour later, the teens got their wish and the class left the museum, with the teacher sending them off to lunch.
Conner had soccer practice and Ethan had a computer club meeting, so the three went their separate ways.
~…~
Later that afternoon, Conner and Ethan made their way to the café. The entire afternoon had been off to them, with Kira, as they hadn't seen the girl since they had separated after the field trip.
For Ethan, it wasn't that bad, but for Conner, it was a little confusing as he and Kira had had plans and she hadn't shown up.
Conner had explained everything to Ethan and the two boys had decided to head over to the café, hoping they'd meet Kira there, before trying the Oliver house if she wasn't.
When they entered the café, both boys were relieved, and yet surprised to see Kira sitting at the counter.
"Hey," Conner called out as he walked over to his girlfriend. "Where've you been all afternoon? We've been looking for you."
"And here I was making sure I couldn't be found," Kira replied, "Guess I didn't try hard enough."
Both Conner and Ethan were caught off guard by the girl's words.
Conner took a step forward and touched Kira's shoulder, "So, what happened? We had plans to meet up after I had soccer practice today."
Kira shrugged off Conner's touch and stood up, "Look, I had better things to do than to spend time with you. I mean, the fact that I blew you off meant that you were not important to my life for me to abandon whatever I was doing today, no matter how trivial it may have been."
She gathered her books and then turned her attention back to a stunned Conner. "In fact, why don't I make thing very simple? Whatever we may have had between us, it's over. There; now I won't have to suffer through your presence anymore."
Locked deep in her mind, Kira could only cry as she listened to the words that fell out of her mouth and the hurt she could see reflecting in Conner's eyes.
Both Ethan and Conner were shocked by Kira's words, Conner especially as he couldn't figure out just where they were coming from. As far as he knew, everything was okay between the two of them.
When she realized that neither boy was going to reply, Kira walked away, leaving them to watch her go.
"Dude," Ethan looked between Kira's disappearing back to Conner, "What the hell was that?"
"I don't know," Conner muttered, his heart aching from his girl-no…ex-girlfriend's words.
"I think we should go talk to Dr Oliver and the others," Ethan suggested.
"Yeah," Conner agreed softly, still staring after Kira, and still reeling from her harsh words.
~…~
While Ethan and Conner had decided to head over to Kim and Tommy's place, Kira had decided on going to her house. The moment she got outside the café, she turned into an alleyway and then teleported into her room.
She dropped her books, and bag, on the floor before heading downstairs.
When she got there, she saw her mother sitting in the living room and ignored her, turning to go directly to the kitchen.
"Where did you come from?" Elizabeth asked when she realized it was her daughter. It took a few minutes for Elizabeth to realize she didn't get an answer.
Irritated, she got up and went to the kitchen. "Didn't you hear me talking to you? I asked you a question. Where did you come from?"
"My room, duh," Kira rolled her eyes, "You're really taking this blonde bimbo shit to a whole new level, aren't you?"
Elizabeth went still. "What did you just say to me?"
"Wow, deaf now as well?" Kira retorted as she opened the refrigerator and searched through it.
Filled with anger, Elizabeth stomped over to her daughter, grabbed her by the back of her shirt and yanked her back.
Kira stumbled back into the counter and harshly pulled away from her mother. "What the hell?!"
"Excuse me?!" Elizabeth snapped, "You don't talk to me that! How dare you?!"
"I dare because I can!" Kira answered back. "Now move! I have things I need to do!"
"You little bitch!" Elizabeth snarled at her daughter, raising her hand to hit her.
Kira grabbed her mother's arm and threw Elizabeth back into the refrigerator. Without waiting to see the woman's reaction, she ran from the room and outside. She went around to the side of the house and then, teleported to the woods just outside the Command Centre.
When she got there, she quickly made her way up to the cave entrance, and brought her communicator to her lips.
"Kim?"
"Yeah Kira?" Kim answered back.
"There's a disturbance down by the lake," Kira told her, "I saw some Tyrannodrones walking around, like their looking for something. Can I get some help? Conner and Ethan are stuck at the café with their own problem."
"On my way," Kim replied.
Kira ducked just out of sight of the entrance and watched as Kim came out, riding the ATV that Tommy had taken from Trent over a month ago. When the ATV disappeared, she quickly made her way inside, and up to the Command Centre.
She saw Andros and Billy sitting at the computers and keeping out of sight of the two men, she quickly and quietly made her way over to where the missing bone was stored, grabbed it, and then left as quietly as she had arrived.
She teleported back to the museum and took the bone to Fossilador.
'Yes…excellent…bring it to me…fit it into the slot in the back of my neck.'
Kira did as she was told and fitted the bone into the empty space. The moment she did so, the dinosaur came alive.
"Yesss," Fossilador hissed, "It isss good to be back."
He turned his attention to Kira and hit her with a psionic blast. The force of it sent Kira to the ground, where she went unconscious.
Letting out a chuckle, Fossilador made his way out of the museum.
(Earlier at the Command Centre with Kim and the others)
"I can't believe this," Kim breathed out as she sat on the couch. She felt it dip beside her and then a brush against her arm and then a weight settle around her shoulders.
"I know," Tommy said, "We're so close Kim. Andros and Billy finally figured it out and soon, I'll be visible again."
Kim leaned into her fiancé and sighed, "Good. I miss seeing you." A mischievous grin lit her face, "And I gotta tell you; the moment it works, we're disappearing for a few days. It's been way too long since we've had sex."
Tommy flushed slightly as he let out a groan, squeezing Kim to him. "You don't have to tell me Beautiful. I miss it too."
The beep of the communicator interrupted them.
"Kim?"
"Yeah Kira?" Kim answered back, wondering why the teen was contacting her and hoping nothing was wrong.
"There's a disturbance down by the lake," Kira told her, "I saw some Tyrannodrones walking around, like their looking for something. Can I get some help? Conner and Ethan are stuck at the café with their own problem."
Kim groaned, "Just once, just once, I'd like to not have those damn things show up."
Tommy chuckled, but said nothing as he understood her reaction.
"On my way," Kim replied to the girl and stood up.
"Take the ATV," Tommy suggested, "if there is trouble, it'll come in handy."
"I'll be back guys," Kim called out to Andros and Billy as she headed over to the black ATV. Just as she was about to climb on, she felt Tommy grab her arm.
"I'm not letting you go alone," Tommy said, "I'm coming with."
"Alright," Kim nodded and climbed. When she felt his arms around her waist, she started the ATV. "Let's ride." She grinned hearing Tommy groan, "I've always wanted to say that."
The two left the basement, heading to where Kira had directed them.
A few seconds later, Andros looked around. "Tommy, are you here
"He went with Kimberly," Billy answered. "Come on, we have to finish this. I can't believe we didn't think about this before."
"I know," Andros nodded. "Let's get back to work."
The two refocused on what they were doing, and as such, they didn't see Kira or that she had taken something.
About ten minutes later, Kim and Tommy returned to the basement. They parked the ATV and made their way over to where Billy and Andros were.
Both guys turned to look back at them.
"Was there trouble?" Billy asked.
"No," Kim shook her head, biting her lips. "There was nothing there. I mean, they could've been there and then left,"
"But that doesn't seem plausible," Tommy finished.
"So Kira sent you guys on a wild goose chase?" Billy questioned, glancing between the two.
Andros frowned. "That doesn't sound like her."
"I know," Kim agreed, "She would never do something like that, but she did. The question is; why?"
"Dr O? Kim?" Conner called as he and Ethan stood at the top of the basement stairs. "Anyone down there?"
"Yeah!" Kim shouted back. "Come down."
The two boys came down the stairs, their expressions sending alarms ringing in the adults.
"Is something wrong?" Andros asked, looking between both boys.
Ethan and Conner exchanged looks.
"We're not sure," Ethan answered.
"What do you mean?" Tommy asked.
"It's Kira," Conner said, "There's something different about her."
The four adults exchanged looks.
"What do you mean?" Kim asked, echoing Tommy's question.
At the prompt, both boys recalled the way Kira had acted towards them.
"You said she's been acting strange since you came back from the museum?" Billy asked after a few minutes of silence.
"Yeah," Conner nodded, "I mean, it's weird; she was fine all this morning, but then, this afternoon, it was like she went under a personality change."
Before anyone could comment more, the alarms went off.
"What is it this time?" Kim asked as she and the others hurried over to the computers, coming to a stand behind Billy and Andros.
"Monster attacking downtown," Andros said.
"Wait a minute," Tommy muttered, placing a hand on Kim's shoulder to let her know where he was. "I know that monster."
"What do you mean Dr O?" Ethan threw a puzzled glance towards his teacher.
"It's the Fossilador," Tommy explained, "it's a Dino monster that is really strong and has mind control powers." He paused, "but, it shouldn't be there…it's not possible."
"Why?" Conner asked. "Because, unless we're all blind, it's there."
"Because the skeleton was incomplete," Tommy told them, "and I had the final piece that would be needed to bring it to life."
Kim bit her lip as she looked at the monster and her thoughts ran back over what the two boys had told and Kira's actions. She turned to the teens. "You said you went to Anton's museum, right?"
"Yes," Ethan and Conner answered as one.
She turned to Tommy. "Who knew you had the bone?"
"No one," Tommy said, "Wait…Kira did. She was with me when I was packing some stuff away and I showed it to her."
Billy looked at Kim. "What are you getting at sis?"
"Now, this monster is out there and the only that could've happened was if someone had taken the final piece and joined it with the rest of the body," Kim explained, "The boys said that Kira started acting weird after they came from the museum, and add in to the fact that only she and Tommy knew about the bone. And the weird thing with her earlier."
"Wait," Andros interrupted, "Are you saying that Kira's evil?!"
"Not evil," Tommy answered for Kim, "Like I said, Fossilador is a mind controlling dinosaur. So if Kira somehow came in contact with him, he probably read her mind and saw that she knew where the bone was and took control of her, forcing her to retrieve it for him."
Conner looked relieved, "So, the way she acted today at the café, the things she said…"
"She didn't mean them because she's under his control," Billy finished. "And you guys should probably get going before Fossilador destroys anymore of downtown."
"What about Kira?" Ethan asked.
"I'll get her," Kim said, "she's probably at the museum, so I'll head there to find her and then send her to you guys."
"Ok," Conner nodded. "Dino Thunder, Power Up, Ha!"
The two boys morphed and then teleported out.
"I'll be right back," Kim told the others. Seconds later, she teleported out to the museum.
She quickly moved through it, searching for the teen girl.
"Kira!"
Her communicator beeped and she barely paused to access it. "Yeah?"
"I located her communicator," Billy's voice echoed.
"Where is she?" Kim asked.
"From tracking your communicator," Billy said, "She's about thirty or so yards from you; just turn that corner, and she's through the first door on your right."
"Got it!" Kim nodded. She quickly followed his directions, and found Kira passed out in the room Billy had told her she would be in. "Oh God…Kira…Kira…wake up."
Kira let out a moan as she slowly opened her eyes, quickly pressing a hand to her head. "Ugh…what happened?"
"Short story?" Kim said as she helped up her, "Dino-monster had you under his control. Are you ok?"
Kira shook herself off and nodded, "Yeah…yeah, I'm fine."
"Good," Kim said and she led the teen from the room, "Because the guys need your help. Said Dino-monster is attacking downtown. Are you up for it?"
"Oh yeah," Kira nodded, her eyes burning fiercely, "No one takes over my mind and gets away with it."
Kim grinned over at her. "You go girl!"
The two left the museum; Kim teleported back to the basement while Kira teleported to the boys.
~…~
It was late afternoon when the fight was over and since the café was a little busy and the rangers—former and current—had wanted to talk without fear of eavesdropping, almost everyone had gathered at the dojo.
Andros, Billy and Trini had stayed back at the Command Centre, going over everything to help Tommy.
~…~
Kira and Conner were at the park, sitting on a rock overlooking the lake. They had wanted some time alone together to talk about everything that had happened earlier that day.
"I'm so sorry," Kira whispered, for what seemed to be her millionth apology.
"It's ok," Conner reassured her as he threw an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close into his body. "I don't blame you for anything that happened, especially when I know that it wasn't really you. You were under a mind control Kira; nothing you said, or did, will be held against you."
Kira bit her lip. "I know, I know all that, I do. It's just-the things I said to you, I know they must have hurt."
Conner blew off. "I'm not gonna lie; they did hurt, especially since at the time I had had no idea what I had done wrong. But again, it wasn't you, not really. And I don't hold it against you."
Kira was still a little desperate to make him understand. "It's like I could see and hear what was going on, but I couldn't do anything about it."
Conner turned his girlfriend to face him. "Hey…it's ok. It really is. No one blames you Kira, least of all me. So stop worrying, ok?"
Kira let out a small laugh as she leaned forward to hug Conner. "Ok."
Conner smiled and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Ok," he repeated.
The two sat there for a while longer, the silence between them comfortable as it always was.
Later, as the sun was setting, the two decided it was time to move.
"Come on," Conner said as he stood up and held out a hand for Kira. "It's getting late. I'll take you home."
Kira took the offered hand and allowed him to pull her up, and the nudging him playfully in his side. "I see how it is; you're tired of my company. It's ok."
Conner couldn't help but to laugh. "Never. That is something I'll never get tired of."
The blonde ducked her head to hide the blush that she knew without a doubt was on her cheeks.
"Let's go," Conner smiled and led them to his car.
Within minutes, they were driving away from the park.
The drive was spent with the two talking; their conversations ranged from Katherine's pregnancy, to upcoming Thanksgiving and school.
As they got closer to Kira's house however, she went silent. She wasn't afraid to admit, to herself at least, that she was completely terrified to go home. She remembered everything that had happened under Fossilador's control, which included the way she had acted towards her mother earlier that day and she knew without a doubt that there would be consequences.
But just how bad it would be, she didn't know and she was deathly afraid to find out. She wanted to tell Conner to not take her home, to let her stay with him because she was afraid to go home.
She was desperate to tell him, but the words didn't come out. And before she knew it, they were pulling up in front of her house.
"Here we are," Conner grinned as he turned to face his girlfriend. His grin disappeared when he took the expression on her face. "Kira? Is everything ok? I mean, is something wrong?"
Kira bit her lip and then shook her head. "No…not really. But is it bad that I don't want to go in there?"
Conner frowned. Immediately, memories of the last few months flew through his mind. She had admitted once, back during the whole Kylee Styles drama that her parents had beaten her when she was a kid, but she hadn't admitted to anything else. He just knew though, that there was a lot more going on in her home than she was saying. He still believed that the abuse—because no matter how much Kira had denied then, it was still abuse—wasn't just that one time, that had continued, and still continues on today, but the thing of it is, Kira would never come outright and admit anything, so nothing could've been done.
Now seemed as good a time as any to get some answers.
"Kira," Conner started hesitantly, "About your parents."
Immediately panic flew through Kira. Even though she wanted to tell Conner why she was scared to go home and what was really going on, a part of her—a large part—was still too afraid of her parents to ever reveal the truth about them. She knew she had slipped up months ago, but back then, she had managed to convince him that it had been a one-time thing that had had happened during her childhood and not something that was still going on.
And she needed him to continue believing that.
"There's nothing wrong with my parents," Kira cut him off quickly, and with a slight hint of desperation.
Conner frowned again. "Kira, I saw the look on your face just now; you're scared to go inside that house."
"It's just normal drama Conner," Kira insisted, "just regular teenage crap where teens and parents fight. Don't worry about it…ok?" she pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. "Now, I really do need to go in before my parents come out here." 'if they do, it won't be pretty and I can't let you see that.'
He didn't believe her. Instead, he threw a look to her house, "Maybe I should come in with you."
"No!" Kira replied forcefully. Whatever was going to happen, she did not want him to be a part of it. At the startled look on her boyfriend's face, she forced herself to calm down and smile reassuringly at him. "Sorry. I just-what I meant to say was, it's ok. You don't have to. I'm a big girl Conner."
"I know," Conner reached over and grabbed her hand, "And I know you can take care of yourself, but I still worry and I still want to protect you."
Kira looked up into his brown eyes and felt a rush of love so strong it almost left her breathless. "I love you, you know that right? And I love that you want to protect me."
"I love you too," Conner gave a small smile. "And I'll always want to protect you."
Kira's eyes filled with tears. "Don't ever stop."
"Never," Conner leaned over and kissed. When he pulled back, his eyes traced her features and he let out a sigh. "You should go in."
Kira gave a nod and opened the door. As she made to get out, a sudden panic filled Conner and he quickly reached out and grabbed her hand. "Kira."
Pausing, said girl turned to look back at her boyfriend. "Yeah?"
"If things get too bad with your parents," Conner started, "call me. Just call me and I'll come get you, ok?"
Kira stared at him and then nodded. "Ok." With that, she gave a quick smile and then hurried around his car and up to her house.
Conner watched her go. He waited until the door closed behind her before driving off. As he headed to his house, he couldn't help but to feel nervous and scared. He had a really bad feeling that something was going to go wrong; he just had no idea what.
He had no idea how right he was.
~…~
When Kira got inside, she gently closed the door behind her. Throwing a quick glance around, she didn't see her parents, so she quickly—and quietly—went up the stairs to her room.
Her door hadn't even closed when it was reopened, with such force that it sent it slamming back into the wall.
The noise made Kira jump and she whirled around with wide and fear filled eyes to see her father standing in the doorway. Her gaze fell to his hands and she took a slight step backwards when she saw that he was holding a thick belt.
"Dad," she started, hoping to ward off what she knew was coming. But she knew it was a hope in vain.
"Shut up!" Patrick hissed as he stalked across the room and backhanded his daughter. He was wearing a ring, and the blow caused a cut on her cheek.
The teen fell to the floor, holding a hand to her bruised cheek as she looked up at her father.
"Your mother told me about earlier today!" Patrick yelled at his daughter as he kicked her in her stomach. "I want to know just what the hell you were thinking?!"
Another kick.
"How care you act like that to her?" Patrick hissed. "Maybe you need to be taught a lesson." He unbuckled his belt and pulled it out of the loops. He brought the belt down and proceeded to beat her with it.
The whipping went on for at least ten minutes, before Patrick stopped and threw it away. He then reached down, grabbed his daughter by her arm and yanked her off the ground.
The harsh and sudden movements made Kira let out painful moans, as her body protested against the jostle.
"I'm sorry," Kira whimpered, tears running freely down her cheeks, the salt in them stinging her wound. "P-please…"
Her entire body was in pain. She could feel the bruises on her stomach from her father's kicks and she had felt something snap inside her. The pain had been enough to make her black out for a second. The belt tearing into her skin had brought her back to full consciousness and to the pain of the beating.
"D-daddy…p-please…" her pleas and cries went unanswered.
"You think that's going to do anything little girl?" Patrick glared at her. He threw her out of her room and into the hallway.
Kira didn't even bother to stifle the painful cry when her body hit the floor. She looked up at her father and the rage she saw on his face, had her trying to crawl away.
"And where do you think you're going?" Patrick hissed as he followed her.
Kira spotted he mother standing at the end of the hallway and even though she knew, knew, it wouldn't do any good, she couldn't help but to reach out to her for help.
"Momma…please…m-make him stop."
Elizabeth snorted and headed back into her bedroom, calling over her shoulder, "Will you hurry it up?! I want to go dancing or something."
It was like a tiny part of her died when her mother turned her back on her. Her focus shifted from her mother back to her father when the man grabbed her around her neck and pulled her to her feet.
Patrick kept his hand around his daughter's throat as he slammed her against the wall.
"You made a mess in the kitchen," Patrick told her, "and you're going to clean it up."
With his hand still around her throat, Patrick pulled his daughter down the stairs. Just as he was almost at the bottom, Elizabeth called out to him and he turned to her, loosening his grip from Kira, letting her go.
Kira stumbled from the sudden release, and fell back against the wall. She tried to keep upright, but she was already in pain—her body crying for release—and she fell down the last few steps, knocking down a few pictures off the wall as she did so. When she hit the ground, she let out a cough, blood coming out, and held a trembling hand to her aching stomach. She could feel the blood all over her and knew that it was on the floor as well, and she knew that she'd be punished for that too.
"Get in there," Patrick used his foot to push the teen towards the kitchen. "Crawl like the bitch you are."
Outright crying, but not loud enough for her father to hear, Kira tried to ignore the intense pain radiating from her entire body as she crawled into the kitchen.
Letting out a growl, Patrick pulled his foot back and aimed a forceful kick at his daughter. The blow was so powerful that it sent the girl flipping onto her back where she landed with a painful thud.
"You make me sick," Patrick hissed, glaring down at her, "And all of this, it better be cleaned by the time we get back."
"Are you done yet?" Elizabeth asked as she stood in the entry way. "I'm ready to leave."
"I'm done here," Patrick nodded at his wife.
"Well then let's go," Elizabeth demanded as she walked away, not even sparing a glance to her daughter.
Throwing one last glare at Kira, Patrick followed his wife.
Kira lay on the floor, her body beaten and near broken and in serious pain. She could feel her body giving up, could feel herself wanting to escape to the oblivion hovering on the edge of her consciousness, but she couldn't…not yet.
There was still one thing she had to do. So, with the last of her strength, she slowly her wrist up and punched a three digit sequence on her communicator.
Task completed, she let the pain overwhelm her and passed out, secured in the knowledge that help would soon be on its way.
~…~
Over at the Oliver household, the former rangers were in the basement, ready to try what Billy and Andros had come up with to finally turn Tommy visible.
The group had immediately raced to the house from the dojo when Billy and Andros had contacted them, telling them the good news.
"So we're sure about this?" Kat asked from where she was sitting on the couch.
"Definitely," Andros nodded. "Billy and I went over everything more than once."
"It took a while but we finally figured out that the key was Tommy's gem," Billy explained. "Since the gem gave him the power of invisibility to begin with, it stands to reason that the gem would be the one to help."
"I just can't believe it took us so long to figure it out," Andros shook his head.
"Well that's in the past," Kim said, "the point is, you guys did figure it out."
"So let's do this," Jason said, anticipation coursing through him, but he knew he wasn't the only one. All of them were more than ready to actually see their friend instead of just hearing him.
And it was a little creepy to be touched, even friendly, by someone invisible.
"I'm ready," Tommy spoke up.
Billy and Andros set up a parameter so that they would know exactly where Tommy was when they used the laser.
"Ok," Billy said a while later, "All done. Everything's in order and ready to go."
"Guys," Andros turned to the others, "Give him some space. I don't want any of you to be caught in the crossfire of whatever excess energy might pour off."
Almost immediately, the others quickly moved to the stairs, giving the three men more than enough room to work.
"Ready?" Billy called out.
"Do it," Tommy replied.
Just seconds before Billy flipped the switch on the laser, an alarm rang through the room, but it was quickly forgotten as the beam from the laser hit the space where Tommy was, and immediately threw off a power.
The wave of power was so strong that it overpowered the computer system and within minutes, the entire basement went dark.
"What the hell happened?" Aisha asked, trying to see something.
A hum sounded as the generator kicked in and the lights began to flicker as power came back on.
When the lights were fully on, the group were shocked when they saw Tommy lying on the floor.
"Tommy!" Kim was the first to move, racing across the room, reaching her fiancé before anyone else. "Oh God…Tommy."
The others hurried to the two.
"Is he alright?" Tanya asked, fear in her voice and tears already filling her tears.
Andros checked Tommy over. "He's barely breathing and his pulse is weak." He looked up at the others. "I don't think we can help him. We need to get him to the hospital."
Jason immediately went into leader mode. "Right. Ok, we can't take him up the stairs and we can't wait for the ambulance to get here either. Zack, help me lift him; we'll go out the cave entrance." He turned to Rocky, "Bring Tommy's jeep to the back."
"Couldn't we just teleport him?" Adam asked even as Rocky ran up the stairs.
Billy shook his head, "We have no idea what's wrong, or if the teleportation will cause any more problems."
Accepting Billy's words as truth, the others quickly hurried into action. Zack and Jason carefully lifted Tommy from the ground while Aisha took control of a crying Kim.
Tanya made calls to the others, letting them know what was going as she followed the group to the entrance.
Billy and Andros stayed behind to make sure the computers were ok, and to also check out what the alarm was that had rang out earlier.
Billy cursed, "Shit!"
"What is it?" Andros questioned.
"Remember a few months back Kim asked to implement a change to the communicators?" Billy asked instead, "That if anyone was in serious danger, non-ranger related danger, then all they'd have to do is punch in a sequence and it'd send an alarm here."
Andros straightened up. "Yeah, you told me it was because she had suspicions about Kira and wanted to give her way to contact us if anything went wrong. Kira didn't know why the code was there though…none of the teens know the actual reason."
"The alarm that came through earlier," Billy revealed, "it was from Kira's communicator. It was that specific sequence."
Andros' eyes widened. "Fuck!"
"My sentiments exactly," Billy said just as he contacted Conner.
"Yeah?"
"You need to get to Kira's house," Billy told him.
"Already on my way," Conner replied.
"Ok," Billy said as he ended the connection. "Everything looks good?"
"Yeah," Andros nodded.
"Good," Billy said, "let's head to the hospital."
Andros shook his head as he and Billy made their way out of the basement, after making sure one last time that everything was working as it should. "I hope she's okay. I mean, we already have Tommy in trouble, we don't need Kira there as well."
~…~
When Conner entered his house, he went directly upstairs, oblivious to the sight of his mother sitting in the living room or the fact that she was calling out to him. His mind was completely preoccupied with Kira and the unease he had felt earlier about her going home; an unease that hadn't disappeared, but instead was continually growing.
He tried to focus on something else—anything else—but he couldn't.
"Conner?" Jessica called as she walked into her son's room.
Conner was startled out of his thoughts to see his mother standing just a few feet away. "Mom?"
"Is everything ok?" Jessica asked as she stepped further into the room. "I've been calling you since you came home and you haven't answered. It's like you're in another world."
Conner frowned and dropped his gaze to his bed.
"Conner?" Jessica walked over to her son and sat down next to him. "Talk to me sweetie; what's going on?"
"I don't know, I just-I'm really worried about Kira," the teen told his mother.
"What do you mean?" Jessica questioned, trying to get a better understand of what was going through his mind.
"She got into an argument with her mother earlier today," Conner revealed, "and I'm worried that that argument is going to cause a big fight."
Jessica frowned. She didn't like the undertones of what she was hearing. Kids fight with their parents all the time, but from her son's tone of voice, this was something more; there was something else going on.
But it couldn't be what she was thinking.
"Con," Jessica said, "teens fight with their parents all the time."
Conner gave her a brief grin. "I don't fight with you."
Jessica laughed and gave him a playful nudge. "You're the exception."
"Of course," Conner nodded.
"My point is," Jessica continued, "are you sure you're not blowing things out of proportion?"
Conner remained silent for a few minutes before finally admitting, "I don't know. Maybe I am."
"Look," Jessica stood up, "I'm not dismissing your feelings, but if you're really that concerned, why don't you call Kira tomorrow morning or go see her?"
"Yeah," Conner nodded, "I think I'll do that. Thanks mom."
"Anytime hon," Jessica smiled and then left the room.
For the next half hour, Conner tried to do various things around his room to keep his focus, instead, he found his thoughts drifting once again to his girlfriend.
He couldn't help but to remember the look on her face as she got out of his car earlier; it was pure fear.
'Something's wrong. I don't know what, but I can feel it.'
The sense of unease that had went away when he had been talking to his mother, suddenly came back and it was stronger than ever.
Now filled with panic, Conner quickly grabbed his keys and ran from his room and down the stairs.
"Conner?" Jessica called out, hearing his footsteps.
"Going to Kira's," Conner called back without stopping, "Be back later."
Jessica replied, but Conner honestly didn't hear her. He was too focused on getting to his car and getting to Kira's house.
Within minutes, he was in his car, pulling out of his driveway and heading towards the Ford household.
He hadn't even been driving for five minutes when his communicator went off. "Damnit! What now?" letting out a heavy sigh, while keeping his eyes on the road, he answered. "Yeah?"
"You need to get to Kira's house," Billy's voice sounded.
Already fearing the worst, Billy's words did nothing to ease Conner's worry, instead they made his panic grow. "Already on my way."
"Good," Billy said and then he cut the communication.
Conner drove just a little bit faster. 'Hang on Kira…just hang on for me…please…'
Ten minutes later, he pulled up in front of the Ford house. He quickly parked, and was getting out and running up the walkway seconds later.
When he got to the front door, he grabbed the doorknob, wondering absently if it was locked—though he had every intention of kicking the door down if it was—and breathed a sigh of relief to find it unlocked.
"Kira?!" he shouted as he moved through the house. He froze when he got to the entry to the stairs, seeing the blood and broken glass on the floor. "Oh God…Kira?!" he looked around, eyes wide with panic and fear as he called out for his girlfriend.
He followed the trail of blood and when he entered the kitchen, he literally fell to his knees.
A whimper escaped his lips as he reached out a trembling hand towards the still form of his girlfriend. "Kira?!"
It took a few seconds for him to actually move and carefully make his way over to her. Checking for a pulse, his body almost caved with relief when he found it.
Keeping a hand on Kira's body, Conner quickly pulled out his cell and dialled 911.
"911, what's your emergency?"
"Help, I need help. Oh my God…she's hurt so bad…there's so much blood…please, you've got to send someone."
"Ok, calm down sir. Can you tell me what happened? Who's hurt?"
"My girlfriend Kira," Conner explained as a sob escaped, "I came over and found her on her kitchen floor. She's really hurt and she's barely breathing. Please...send help."
"Ok, what's the address?"
"1525 West King St," Conner replied.
"Ok hon, I've contacted the police and help is on its way," the operator said, "Now I need you to do something for me. Can you check for a pulse?"
"I did," Conner answered, "it's slow."
"Ok, can you tell me where she's hurt?"
"No," Conner let out a pained cry, "she has blood all over and I don't know where it's all coming from and I'm scared to move her."
Before the operator could reply, the screech of sirens cut through the air. He ignored his phone and called out the medics when he heard them inside the house.
When the two paramedics rushed over with their gear, Conner was reluctant to move, but he knew he had no choice, not if he wanted them to help her.
"Just save her…please," he pleaded softly, tears falling freely as he watched them work on his girlfriend.
The female paramedic looked up at him. "We'll do everything we can."
"She's breathing, but barely, and she's unresponsive," the male said, "We got to move…now!"
The two medics worked quickly and carefully, loading Kira onto the gurney and starting oxygen pumps as they rushed her out the house. They loaded her in the ambulance, with Conner immediately jumping in behind them.
"What's her name hon?" the female asked.
"K-Kira," Conner whispered, eyes not leaving Kira's body, "Her name's Kira."
"Alright, Kira, you hang in there darling," the female said, "stay with us."
The entire ride to the hospital was like a blur to Conner. All he was focused on was his girlfriend possibly dying.
After what felt like hours to him, the ambulance finally pulled up at the emergency room.
The medics rushed from the bus to the hospital, with Conner immediately following. When he tried to go through the doors, following the gurney and doctors, he was stopped by a nurse.
"I'm sorry, but you can't go in there," the nurse.
"I just need," Conner tried to protest.
"I know," the nurse cut him off, seeing the pain and fear in his eyes, "but the doctors need to do their jobs and they can't do that if you're in there. Why don't you wait in the waiting room?"
Conner gave a tearful nod, and after throwing one last glance towards the doors where Kira was, he turned and headed to the waiting room.
When he got there, he was shocked to see the former rangers sitting around. "You're here for Kira? But how did you know she'd be here?"
The former rangers, with the exception of Billy and Andros and Kim, exchanged looks.
"Something's wrong with Kira?" Aisha asked, brows furrowing.
Conner stared at them, "You don't know? Then why are you here?"
"So wait," Tanya interrupted, "both Kira and Tommy are here tonight? What the hell is going on?"
Conner slowly walked over to the group, trying to process what he was hearing. His gaze drifted to Kim and the pain in her body echoed familiar to him. "What do you mean Dr O is here?"
"We managed to get him visible," Andros answered, "but something went wrong and we don't know what."
"Conner," Aisha called softly. When she got his attention, she asked, "What's wrong with Kira?"
At the question, Conner collapsed in a chair, sobs echoing in the somewhat empty area. "I think she's going to die."
"What?!" came as one from the group.
Between cries, Conner told them what had happened earlier. When he was done, there were tears in the girls' eyes while the boys' own burned with a protective rage.
Kim got up out of her seat and walked over to Conner, taking the chair next to him and grabbing one his hands to hold. "They'll be ok."
"What if she's not?" Conner whimpered as he leaned in to her. "I can't lose her."
"You won't," Kim's voice was strong, despite the tears in it, "We won't lose either one of them. They'll both be ok. They have to."
Nothing else was spoken from that point on.
Calls were made, to Ethan and the Olivers, as well as Conner's mother, but other than that, no other words were exchanged.
As time passed, the waiting room had gained a few more people: Ethan had shown up around the same time as Conner's mother Jessica, just about twenty minutes after Jason had called the teen and older woman; James and Melissa had shown up not long after them and had pretty much anchored themselves to Kim; an hour after that, Conner's father and brother—Matthew and Eric—had shown up as well. The only ones who weren't there were Kira's parents and from what Conner had told them, and what the rangers had suspected, it was a good thing.
Ethan was sitting next to Conner, trying to give his friend some comfort, though he wasn't sure how. He was still trying to process what the others had told him. To think that not only was their mentor fighting for his life, but Kira was as well and her reason was because of her parents.
Everyone was sitting quietly when footsteps echoed in the room.
All eyes shot to the doorway, and they saw that two doctors were standing there.
"Family for Thomas Oliver?"
"Family for Kira Ford?"
Everyone stood up, with Conner, Kim, James and Melissa taking a step forward so they were standing in front of the group.
"What's going on?" Kim asked, her voice hoarse from her crying.
"Is Tommy ok?" Melissa demanded.
"Is Kira ok?" Conner asked.
The two doctors exchanged looks.
"I'm afraid the news isn't good."
A/N 2: so…what did you guys think? The scenes with Mesogog and Trent, I know there wasn't much there, but this is a ranger show lol; the teens and former rangers have basically taken over the story, so the evil side of things probably won't get too in depth. As for the scene with Conner talking to the 911 operator and the paramedics, if it wasn't realistic, I'm sorry, I wasn't really sure how to write it actually, so that's the end product.
Alright, I think I've talked enough; and since you're at this point, you know the drill.
Kila