"Okay, let's put it to a vote! I say the supermarkets here kick Blue Bay's ass!" Dustin exclaimed as his hand flew up in the air, stating his opinion loud and clear for the three other men he was grocery shopping with. While their house had come with a few days worth of food, boy will be boys, and these boys needed more.
Shane shook his head as he pushed the shopping cart. It was his job to monitor what went inside the cart to make sure none of the boys were putting any unnecessary food on their three month credit. Due to the Venjix, money had almost completely disappeared from the face of the earth. While the leaders of Corinth tried to re-establish the finances, they had given every person a credit card with a limit that would easily accommodate their basic needs for three months. Hopefully by then there would be some sort of monetary system.
"Dustin, this food is probably filled with nasty chemicals! Like nastier than the ones we actually like! I don't think you remember the days we spent in no-man's-land."
"Dude, I think this is fantastic!" Dustin grinned as he took another bit from the sample tray he had been handed on his way inside. "Who cares what's inside it. I just love the way it taste!"
Cam turned to Blake as the two stood by the frozen foods and listened to the conversation between the yellow and red Rangers. They exchanged a look for a moment and both sighed.
"At least it's entertaining," Blake shrugged.
Cam continued to look at the navy Ranger, "You haven't heard Dustin's songs yet."
"Songs?" Blake frowned. He turned back to his other friends and listened carefully. While Dustin grabbed an armful of produce from the shelves he sang, "Shopping, shopping, shopping, shopping…"
Blake turned back to Cam, "Seriously?"
"He calls it art," Cam nodded. "I'm just glad he's a ninjutsu sensei and not a music professor."
As Dustin walked back to the cart Shane was pushing, he had a quick look around the store to see if there was anything he missed. Suddenly he let his armful of produce drop right out of his hands as he stood staring at the front of the store.
"L-Libby?" he breathed. Shane, Blake and Cam looked at their motocross man for a moment before turning and following his gaze. At the cash there was a girl with two older people, presumably her parents. The older man was yelling at the cashier and insisting she try swiping his old credit card again, as it was impossible that there was no way it could be declined, for he was a multi-millionaire. The woman beside him was scoffing loudly and rolling her eyes, like she was disgusted by everything in the store, including the people.
While Dustin couldn't see the young lady's face, he was almost certain this was Olivia. She came from a rich family, one he never met, and just by the way this girl was standing, he could tell she wasn't caught up by her parent's fortune, just like Olivia. Was it possible she had survived being blown to bits?
Suddenly, Dustin felt a hand on his shoulder.
"You dropped this," Dustin heard someone say in a thick Scottish accent. The Former Yellow turned and saw a man years younger than himself, holding one of his delicious apples. The Scot had a huge smile on his face, as if it was his absolute pleasure to be helping Dustin out.
Dustin smiled nervously, "Uh, thanks."
"That's a lot of fruit," the scot said. "Are you trying to change your habits after the end of the world scare?"
"No…" Dustin shook his head and quickly glanced back at the cash registers. He noticed the Olivia look-a-like was already gone, yet her parents were still in the store, exchanging confused looks.
"I am," the scot smiled. Apparently he was feeling very friendly. "I'm going to start enjoying natural smoothies. A healthy treat. I was really regretting those biscuits when the alarms went off."
Dustin nodded and was obviously very distracted. He bent over to grab the rest of the produce that had fallen. The Scot was just about to help when he caught a glance at the time on Dustin's watch.
"Oh, no!" he shouted. He grabbed what he could and dumped them into the cart that Shane was still holding. The poor Red Ranger was still trying to figure out this man's accent. The Scot started rushing off, "I'm going to be late for the audition!"
"Audition?" Blake frowned, finally stepping forward. He and Cam had been having a ball watching Shane try to figure out the words coming out of the Scottish man's mouth. His accent was so thick it was like he had just come from Scotland (which he probably had).
"Power Ranger!" the scot answered, pausing for a moment to explain why he was leaving so rudely. "I wasn't going to try out, but then I heard there was a former Ranger in charge of the process! A real superhero!"
"Power Ranger?" Cam, Blake, Shane and Dustin all said in unison, snapping out of whatever had previously been distracting them and keeping them from truly focusing on their new friend before them. The Scot nodded.
"It'll be an honour just to meet her!"
"Her?" Cam asked. He looked at the other boys. There were a lot of Ranger teams, but if there was a chance that Tori had been released from the military, they wanted to find out.
"Aye," the scot nodded.
Forgetting about their groceries (and the delicious fruits and vegetables), Dustin, Shane, Cam and Blake rushed out the door and followed the Scot.
-Fight-Flight-
"Okay, so I got the just of what this Venjix Virus thing is," Hunter started as he tried to keep Tori from kicking him out from The Garage. She needed him gone for the auditions. It was Dr. K's request. Only Project Ranger personnel and Ranger candidates were allowed in the Garage during the audition process. "But, can you please explain how it managed to take over the world and how this city survived when everything else was nuked?"
"You couldn't have asked that last night?" Tori groaned as she literally tried to push Hunter out the door, a job that was normally very easy without the sling and gunshot wound on her shoulder. The first candidate was due to arrive any second. "Don't you have fellow survivors to go home too or something?"
Hunter shook his head, "One of them I don't like, and I'm getting the impression that the others don't like me."
He hadn't told Tori who his fellow survivors were. He didn't think it was important. She didn't know Casey, Theo, Lily, RJ, Dom or Fran, and the two she did know weren't worth mentioning at this point. Alex had turned his back on him and the story behind him and Kelly was enough to prove his hatred for her.
"Is that so?" Tori frowned and there was a hint of sarcasm in her voice, "You seem like a very likeable and respectable guy. Always doing things for others and never getting in their… way!"
Tori finally pushed Hunter past the door frame and started pushing the buttons to lock the door behind him. As the door shut she called to him: "How about we meet for dinner tonight? Bring your new frien… uh, survivors and maybe I can get them to change their minds."
Hunter stared at the door for a few moments after it locked, "Doubt it."
Inside, Tori walked over to the table Hunter had helped her set up and pressed a button to open another door, where a line of candidates all filed in, ready for their audition process. Only three would make it in the end.
"Alright, how many of you think you might throw up?" Tori started as she looked at the candidates. They all exchanged looks before shaking their heads no. Tori then pressed another button and one of the computer screens used to project Dr. K's K symbol turned into a monitor that displayed various military soldiers testing out the Ranger Audition process.
Many of the applicants turned green just watched all the various ways they were going to be tested. Tori turned off the video at this point.
"How many are going to throw up now?" she asked.
-Fight-Flight-
Shane, Cam, Blake and Dustin followed their new friend until they reached a large establishment. The Scot ran right up to the door and tried pulling on it. He sighed when it didn't open.
"I'm too late," he said, kicking the ground.
"When did the auditions start?" Cam asked, wondering how long it would be before they could get in and see if this Ranger was Tori. The Scot checked the time again and shrugged.
"Half an hour ago," he said. "Why did I have to help dad? I've missed it, now!"
Suddenly, the doors opened up and a few dozen men all wobbled out, holding their stomachs and moaning in pain. One of the men saw the Scot and grabbed him by the shoulders.
"What's your name, son?" he asked just before gagging.
"Flynn," the Scot replied.
"Well, Flynn," the man told him, "If you're thinking of trying out…"
Suddenly, the man threw up. When he was done he looked up at the disgusted boy.
"Don't."
The man stumbled as he walked away looking very ill. Flynn gulped nervously before checking what had happened inside.
Shane, Dustin, Cam and Blake walked up behind him, holding their noses.
"Dude, it smells like puke in there," Dustin commented.
Blake turned to his friend, "Yeah, we kinda smelt that, man."
Hesitantly, Flynn walked inside the Garage.
"Hello?" he called.
A dark skinned man, close to Flynn's age looked up from cleaning the floors of the same stuff the man outside had just thrown up, "I'd hold my breath if I were you," he warned the Scot. He noticed the former Rangers walking in, holding their noses, "These guys have the right idea," he chuckled.
"You're not a woman, dude," Dustin pointed out.
"Yeah," Shane nodded. He motioned to Flynn, "This kid told us a woman was running this thing. A former Power Ranger, woman."
"Uh, yeah, Miss Hanson," the young man nodded, missing the relieved, delighted and surprised looks from the former Rangers. He pointed to one of the many doors in the building, "She's… washing up."
"Washing up what?" Dustin asked. It was a rather stupid question, given the way this Garage was now decorated. Cam shot his friend a surprised look. Dustin shrugged, "What? Tori's got a strong stomach."
"This wasn't Miss Hanson," the young man said. "This was from the men who just ran out of here. Apparently they can't handle simulations."
"And you can?" Flynn asked.
"Or are you just the clean-up crew?" Shane asked.
The man dropped his mop and walked forward. He held out a hand for Shane to shake.
"I'm Scott Truman. Eagle Two and, now, seeing as every other candidate ran out barfing, I guess you can also refer to me as Ranger Operator Series Red."
Flynn's eyes widened as he pushed Shane out of the way and shook Scott's hand. He had heard of the Truman's, especially after the battle of Corinth. They had all fought courageously to insure as many people as possible made it to Corinth and put their lives on the line for days on end to hold back the Venjix forces. Not only was Scott a military legend for Flynn, but he was now a Power Ranger.
Before anyone else could say anything about Scott, one of the doors opened up and Tori stepped out, pulling on a new, blue shirt over her head. As she straightened out her shirt she looked around the room, dreading having to clean up the mess left behind.
"Dr. K, will you come out and help us out now, ple…" she trailed off as her eyes met with the four older men standing in the entrance way of her Garage. With the exception of Blake, though she was worried about his well being, she had assumed they were all dead.
"Dude! It's the right Miss Hanson!" Dustin called out, breaking what everyone had just realised what a silence. Scott and Flynn looked at the men.
"You know her?" they both asked.
Tori rushed over and jumped into the arms of her best friends, who all caught her in a strong and very relieved hug.
After a moment they all pulled away and almost instantly noticed she was injured. They all panicked.
"What happened?" they asked at once, even Blake.
Tori shook her head and dove in for another hug, "I'll explain later! You guys made it!"
Flynn leaned over and whispered to Scott, "So, uh, do you think they know each other or what?"
Scott sighed and rolled his eyes.
