Calvin was in the bathroom, changing his clothes after his accident on the mini bike. He wasn't one to be especially vain, but since he often tinkered with Nitro and worked on other engines purely for fun, he normally carried a change or two of clothes with him just to be on the safe side. On this occasion, it had worked out for him.
His clothes didn't appear to be too messed up, certainly not compared to what he was used to, just some minor grass stains, but also a more embarrassing stain that required them to be changed.
It wasn't his fault that he was terrified of driving. He knew virtually all there was to know about cars and all their safety features. The mini bike Sarah had given him to try out was a literal toy. They regularly sold and rented those things out to ten year olds to ride. He didn't have anything more serious wrong with him than a bruised ego after his spill. The impact hadn't even been fast enough to damage the bike, but that didn't mean he was alright.
His heart was still racing, and his chest still felt tight, giving him real trouble breathing. He could hardly stop shaking and he felt decidedly ill, and had almost thrown up a couple of times. He had also had other evacuations. He knew this feeling all too well, it was all part of the fight-or-flight response. His body was still riding on pure terror, trying to prepare itself best to confront danger or to run from it. Right now running seemed like the best approach. If he couldn't handle a toy that was meant for a ten year old, how did he ever expect to drive on a freeway where everyone was capable of hitting 55?
He left the cubicle after getting changed and started to wash his face. He thought about what had happened, and he knew he would have to apologise to Sarah. He had snapped at her, attacked her when she was only trying to help him. He had felt like she was mocking him, making fun of him for being so scared of something so simple that virtually everyone else his age could already do it, but he knew that wasn't the case. He knew that fear and anger were often pretty close, and that he had allowed his fear to get the better of him in that instance. He was sure Sarah wouldn't hold it against him, but he wasn't the kind of guy to just rely on his friends putting up with it any time he went on a strop because he was scared. Taking a deep breath, he shut off the tap and headed out to find his friends.
When he got into the hall, he could hear something happening outside. It was the unmistakable sound of a battle going on. He broke into a run, heading outside to find the Rangers locked in battle with a gigantic spider-like creature that had what he could only describe as an air conditioning unit strapped to its back.
Brody surged past it on Calvin's project bike, slicing it with his Ninja Sword. They had taken the fight outside so they could try to get their distance from other students, and almost as importantly, their base in the paint room.
"Hayley, tell Calvin this thing works great!" Brody said cheerfully as he skidded around for another pass.
"I am so sick of this eight-legged freak!" Sarah yelled as she fired a blast at it. "Preston, can you make him disappear?"
"Spider, Spider, in our way, have a faceful of my bug spray!" Preston called out, launching a mist towards his opponent. The monster staggered and spluttered as it was caught in a cloud of mist.
"You want to fight dirty? How about I turn you all into a snack?" Tangleweb screeched as he leapt into the air. Calvin and the other Rangers watched as he transformed into a massive version of his own face high up in the sky, before an incredible whirlwind kicked up, drawing everything that wasn't fixed down towards him. Calvin was far enough away that he could brace himself behind a wall, but the Rangers had to make do grabbing onto whatever they could get their hands on. Brody, who was still on the bike wasn't so lucky as he and the bike ended up being picked up by the whirlwind.
"BRODY!" Hayley called out, watching the Red Ranger tumbling through the air, disappearing into Tangleweb's face. Preston was the next to go, as his grip on the bench he was hanging onto failed him.
"I hate spiders!" He yelled as he was drawn up into the vortex.
"Sarah, if you have any bright ideas, this would be a REALLY good time!" Hayley commented as she felt her sword, which she had driven into the ground, starting to shift.
"A…really big bug swatter?" Sarah suggested weakly. It was too late though, as Hayley's sword came free, causing her to fly upwards, she hit Sarah on the way. Calvin could only watch helplessly as the last two Rangers disappeared into Tangleweb's waiting mouth. The monster changed form, becoming his regular size once more and appearing on the ground.
"HAYEY!" Calvin called out, breaking cover and running for Tangleweb. "Give me back my friends!"
He connected with a hard hit to the monster's gut, which clearly seemed to affect him. He looked like he was about to be ill. Tangleweb swiped Calvin away, throwing the Yellow Ranger aside where he landed in a heap on the floor.
"Ugh, serves me right for eating so much so quickly. I need to settle my stomach." Tangleweb stated. "I'm off for a nap Yellow Ranger, but don't worry, I'll be back to have you join your friends soon enough!"
With that, he disappeared in a flash of light. Calvin could only stare into the air.
"HAYLEY!" He called out as he sank to his knees. "Sarah, Preston, Brody!"
He knelt on the ground, overcome with the situation. He had only left his friends because of his stupid fear, because of his cowardice, now they were gone and he was alone. However, just as he was succumbing to despair, he could only think of Hayley, and the fact that he would rather be with her, even if it was in defeat, than to be left behind…
That was it! Left behind! Tangleweb had said it himself, he had left Calvin behind! He still had the Yellow Power Star! He didn't know exactly what Galvanax wanted them for, but he doubted he was the kind of guy that would be happy to accept a partially completed collection. Sooner or later Tangleweb would be back for him!
Getting up, Calvin ran for the base, knowing he had to make this time count. By the time Tangleweb came back for him, he'd be ready!
On the Warrior Dome, Galvanax, Ripcon and Madame Odious were watching the re-run of the battle on the big screen in Galvanax's throne room. Galvanax had looped the recording and watched it no less than six times already by the time Cosmo and Wrench came into the room. Wrench saw that Odious was there, and immediately slipped behind Cosmo, who was delighted as he approached the Champ.
"Four Rangers! Your monster's already taken care of four Rangers!" Galvanax declared in a delighted tone as he reached across to Odious, placing a hand on her shoulder. "This is why I hire you Odious; you're more than worth your twenty percent commission! You see that! THAT is how it's done!"
"I can't deny the results; the crowd seems to love the tension." Cosmo stated, pulling up some projections. "Having one Ranger in a desperate struggle to free the others...if we can get Tangleweb to pad out the fight a little, give us a little show before he hoovers him up, then we may have a bankable asset here!"
"So he captured some Rangers, big deal!" Ripcon scoffed.
"He's managed to do more to the Rangers than any of the opponents you've suggested." Madame Odious taunted Ripcon. "You see, unlike you I like to think a little further than the end of a sword. It doesn't matter HOW one wins, just so long as you win."
"Oh really, well there's still one Power Star completely unaccounted for!" Ripcon reminded her.
"Yes, and if we manage to defeat five Rangers, do we really think Tangleweb will have much difficulty against one Ranger on his own?" Galvanax asked him. "I'm starting to think you've gone soft Ripcon. Odious has managed more in one day than you've managed in weeks."
"Well...what's the point in winning if you can't achieve your main objective?" Ripcon asked her.
"What are you talking about?" She asked him.
"The Power Stars!" Ripcon snapped at her. "We're trying to get the Power Stars! Your useless monster just swallowed what we were fighting for all along!"
"There was a bit of a pause as this sank in. It was a good point, one none of them had really thought much about until now. They all turned to look at Madame Odious.
"Tangleweb will return them...uh...eventually." She told them. They all thought about this for a few moments, before Cosmo wrinkled his nose in disgust.
"Wait, you mean you expect us to sift through his...ugh...that's your plan?" He screamed.
"He won't be able to digest them, we'll get them back." She stated. Ripcon pulled out one of his swords.
"Of course there is a way to get them out a little faster now isn't there?" He asked. Galvanax just laughed a little.
"Patience, wait until the meal is done." He told him. "We can split the piñata when it's full."
"It would require the loss of one of my contracted talents." Madame Odious commented with a shrug. "Of course I'm perfectly certain the show won't mind compensating me for that loss by buying out his remaining contract."
"Buying out...!" Cosmo was starting to shriek, before he looked to Galvanax, who just gave him a warning glare and gripped his naginata. Galvanax was also one of Odious' clients, and there was no way he would see her out of pocket...especially since that would ultimately mean HE would end up shouldering some of the costs. "...uh...yes...of course. If it comes to that, the show will find a way to ensure you aren't left out of pocket."
"Then it's settled." Galvanax answered. "How soon before we can send Tangleweb out again?"
"He's just settling his stomach, so we're running some messages from our sponsors." Cosmo told him. "By the time we've done that, he should be ready to slurp up the Yellow Ranger like well-cooked noodles!"
In the Ranger Base, Mick was spending some of his down-time between lessons to work on creating more throwing stars. He didn't exactly know when the Nexus Prism would activate to create more Power Stars, or how many would be created, but he always wanted to have a nice supply ready so that there would always be at least one prepared in case the Nexus Prism ever decided that now was the time for a new weapon in their arsenal. As he finished grinding one to a nice sharp edge, he took it out of the vice and inspected it.
"I am definitely getting batter ad making these throwing stars." He congratulated himself.
"It certainly looks like one of your best." Redbot declared. "Ooh, ooh, ooh, can I get to throw this one?"
"Well..."
"Oh come on, you've thrown all of them up until now! Can I throw just one?" Redbot pleaded with him. "I promise I'll be really careful."
"Redbot, it's not a matter of just wanting to throw it, the Nexus Prism has to be ready to make a Power Star." Mick reminded him. "It's not doing anything right now is it?"
"I suppose not." Redbot said miserably. "Aw, I never get to do anything fun these days."
"You can help me..."
"I got to help you all the time up on the Warrior Dome!" Redbot protested. Mick breathed a sigh and looked at him sympathetically. Redbot did have kind of a point. Of all of them, he had gained the least by escaping the ship. Because robots being seen walking around in the open on a regular basis was still some way off technologically for Earth, Redbot was pretty restricted in his newfound freedom. He had free run of the school while it was closed, and he could explore the nearby woods all he wanted, but most of the time he was cooped up in the paint room. Mick looked across, seeing some books that one of the Rangers had left behind. They had gained something of a bad habit of using spare space in the paint room as an extension of their lockers between classes. He picked up a book, looking at the title.
"Roald Dhal's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." He read aloud, before throwing it to Redbot. "Here, try reading that, see if you like that."
Redbot just shrugged and sat down to read, when Calvin came in, stumbling over the extractor fan as he came in. Mick could already see the urgency in his pace and could tell it wasn't good.
"Mick, a monster's got the others!" He rushed out. "Some big, hairy, creepy spider thing just sucked them up like a vacuum cleaner!"
"Mick! Calvin!" They heard Brody's voice calling out. They went to the communicator, seeing him on the screen.
"Brody, where are you?" Mick asked him.
"We're stuck...somewhere." Brody told him. "I can't see much, we're all tangled up in some kind of web. It's really strong; I can't reach my weapons to cut myself free."
"Hayley, can you see Hayley?" Calvin asked him.
"I'm...I'm fine Cal." She assured him.
"Guys, I'm so sorry...I should have been there!" Calvin said to them.
"If you'd been there, you'd be in here with us." Hayley assured him.
"No, I should have been there. I was only away from you because I was sulking..."
"Calvin, it's alright, really it is." Hayley told him. "You're out there now, you can help us."
"But how?" He asked her.
"Cal, I know you! I know you won't stop until you think of a way to get us out of this." She assured him. "Calvin, I believe in you. I...I lo..."
"Hayley!" He called out as the transmission broke up, slamming his hand into the monitor. "HAYLEY!"
"I can't get a signal." Mick replied sadly.
"This is all my fault!" Calvin stated, beginning to pace.
"Calvin, you couldn't have done anything." Mick told him.
"I could have at least tried!" Calvin yelled at him. "Instead I was hiding in the bathroom because I was scared of a battery-powered motorbike!"
"Calvin...I sincerely doubt your phobia is to blame for this." Mick commented.
"I should have been there, I should have..." He paused as he saw the Ninja Nexus Prism starting to glow. Before him, it started to shift, and he could see an image starting to form. He could see a room draped in webs, and his friends bound in the background, struggling to get out. However, that didn't seem to be focus of the image. Before them, he could see his project bike, the one he had been working on from junker motorcycles.
"That's my motorcycle." Calvin stated. "Why would the Ninja Nexus Prism show me that?"
"I don't know, but the Ninja Nexus Prism doesn't do anything without a reason." Mick told him. Calvin saw the throwing stars lying on the counter and picked one up.
"HEY!" Redbot protested, seeing this.
"Mick, I think I have an idea." Calvin told him. "How do you activate this into a Ninja Power Star?"
"You throw it!" Mick shouted, making a huge motion, before turning and pointing towards the Nexus Prism. "Into the Nexus Prism as hard as you can!"
"Alright, here goes." Calvin said, before drawing back his arm and throwing the star as hard as he could into the Nexus Prism. It started to glow and spin as the star disappeared inside it. Before long, it fired back at Calvin at high speed. The Yellow Ranger had to duck as it came at him, while Mick caught it.
"Whao!" He complained. "You never warned me about THAT part!"
"Oh...right." Mick said. "Sorry."
Calvin took the Power Star from Mick and looked to it.
"I think I know what I have to do with this Power Star." He told Mick, taking a deep breath. He stared at it for a moment, trying to summon up all his courage. It terrified him to know what he faced, but all he could think about was the fact that Hayley and his friends needed him. He had an idea what the Nexus Prism was showing him the bike for, but the only thing that terrified him more than trying to ride it was to think of losing Hayley when there was something, anything at all, he could do to get her back. "Thanks Mick."
With that, he sprinted out of the Ranger Base. As he did so, Mick watched him go and smiled, but he felt a prod in the shoulder. Turning around, he saw Redbot standing behind him.
"How come he gets to throw a Ninja Star and I don't?" He complained. Mick just sighed.
"Right...sorry." He commented. "The next one, I promise!"
"I'll hold you to that!" Redbot grumbled as he returned to reading his book.