Before we begin, just to let you know that the beginning of this chapter takes place before chapter 11.
Quest 12
Lila sauntered through the door of her apartment, the two zennits marching behind her. Serperant slowly skulked behind them and once he was in the apartment, he went to the darkest corner and crouched down.
"What are you doing down there?" she snapped at him, turning on a nearby light, illuminating the dark room, and he let out a vehement hiss in response. Lila tutted and shook her head. "You never change, do you?" she muttered. "Always skulking around and hiding in dark corners." She let out a little laugh. "I suppose that's why Dolnero wanted you," she ended sadly, remembering her former boss. While she had quickly adjusted to being in the past, there were times when she missed him, though that was only in fleeting moments when she was first alone. She removed her coat and threw it so that it landed on the arm of the white sofa that was situated against the window before kicking off her heels and strutting into her bedroom.
Serperant's head moved, following her as he sensed her movements across the room. He had found one of the people he needed but he was confused as to where Don Dolnero was. Surely Lila was supposed to be with him.
"What are you doing here anyway?" she asked Serperant as she re-entered the room. She walked over to the sofa and sat down, crossing one leg over the other. "Zennit!" she called. "Coffee!" One of the zennits moved from its position by the front door and marched across the room into the kitchen and Lila leant over and picked up a fashion magazine from the coffee table in front of her and flipped haphazardly through it.
Serperant let out a rasping sound, his jaw moving as if he were speaking.
Lila frowned and put her magazine down. "You're here to help Dolnero?" she repeated what she had just been told, understanding the sounds Serperant was making, confusion evident on her features.
Serperant let out another rasping sound.
Lila let out a heavy sigh. "Who sent you?" She leant forward, clasping her hands together and resting them on her knees. She was answered by another rasping sound and she nodded. "He never did know what he was doing half of the time," she moaned, talking more to herself than to Serperant. She sighed again and stood up before walking over to Serperant. She crouched down in front of him. "You're too late," she told him. "Dolnero died a year ago, so did Gein, that traitor," she mumbled the last bit to herself, remembering that it had been Gein who had killed Dolnero.
Serperant tilted his head at the word 'traitor', wondering why Lila referred to Gein as one. He was going to question her about it, but there was something more pressing on his mind: how could he have been too late? All of this had been planned. The dates correctly entered. It didn't make any sense. How could he be year too late? Anger began to boil within him. How could such a mistake have been made? What was he supposed to do now? He hissed violently, his tongue flickering viciously as his nostrils flared in rage.
"Those idiots!" Lila snapped, standing up. "How could they have made such a stupid mistake?" The zennit appeared with her cup of coffee and she took it before throwing it against the wall. The china cup instantly shattered upon impact, splattering the coffee against the cream walls, leaving behind a dark brown mark, which slowly dripped down the wall. Ignoring the mess she had made, she went back over to the sofa and threw herself back down. "All of Dolnero's carefully laid plans have gone to waste because of them. What were they thinking?" She groaned and ran a hand through her pink locks.
Serperant continued facing in her direction throughout her outburst, not moving as he regained control of his emotions. He hissed at her from his position in the corner.
"No, no," she replied, not looking at him, but at her coffee table. "The Time ships don't work like that. You can't go back in time again, not without returning to the future first." He replied with another hiss and she shook her head. "No," she said again, "that wouldn't work either, since it would reveal our insider and we need him where he is." She was silent for a moment. "Argh!" she suddenly cried. "What am I supposed to do with you?" She directed this at Serperant, who remained silent, the zennits, however, slowly retreated back. "You were supposed to help Dolnero succeed in his plans, but no, you arrive a year too late!" She pointed her finger at him. "And not only that, but you bring those Timerangers back with you!"
Serperant hissed at the mention of the Timerangers. If he couldn't help Don Dolnero, then at least he could take out the Timerangers. He communicated this with Lila.
"I suppose," she said somewhat reluctantly. "I know that was part of the reason Dolnero recruited you was because of them." She sighed. "And there is that other Sentai team too…" She began to pace back and forth in thought, trying to remember all that she had been told about their back-up plan. She knew that there was a specific reason that Dolnero had recruited him and wanted him to be part of the plan and that it wasn't just because of his marvellous work as an assassin. There was something else, but she couldn't for the life of her remember what it was. But if Dolnero had had faith in him then she also did. "Dolnero trusted that you would be able to take care of the Timerangers," she said, "so I expect you to be able to do a good job."
Serperant let out a soft hiss, informing her that he wouldn't let her down.
Lila nodded. "Zennit!" she suddenly called and the two robots quickly appeared from where they had been hiding. "Clean this up!" she snapped at them, pointing at the drying coffee stain on the wall. "I don't want it staining." And with that, she disappeared into her room, slamming her door closed.
From his position, Serperant was opposite the window, facing the dark night sky (Lila hadn't bothered to close the curtains) and let out a hiss, his tongue flickering. He didn't understand how he could have been sent to the wrong time. If this was a back-up plan, then how could it have been carried out so ineffectively? He felt as though there was something else going on, but he didn't know what. Not that it matter at the moment. He was stuck in the wrong year, but at least he would still be able to carry out his part and destroy the Timerangers.
G|T
Tatsuya sat up in his bed, breathing heavily, a thin layer of sweat on his forehead. He placed a hand against his head and wiped it away, confused as why he had awoken so abruptly. He couldn't remember what he had been dreaming about, expect hearing the sound of a lion's roar. He looked around and noticed that he was the only one awake – Ayase's bed had been neatly made – and he looked across at the clock. It read 10:13. He groaned in a mixture of frustration that he had overslept and annoyance that he had to get out of bed. He threw his covers off of him, swung his legs over the side of his bed and jumped down before quickly changing before leaving the room.
"You're finally awake then," Ayase said without looking from the newspaper he was reading, as he heard Tatsuya entering the room.
"Yeah, sorry," he mumbled in response. "Had a late night."
"Uh huh." Ayase flipped the page of the paper and continued reading.
"Domon not back yet then?"
"No. He must still be spending time with Honami-san and their baby," Sion replied from his position at the computer. "I expect they'll be back later." He sighed, turning in his chair to face Tatsuya. "It must be strange coming back to the past and finding out that you had a child."
"Yeah, weird." He looked over at Yuuri's closed door. "Isn't Yuuri up yet?" he asked, jabbing his thumb towards her door.
Sion looked at him. "She's out for a run," he replied.
"Oh, right." Tatsuya walked into the kitchen and began making himself a cup of coffee, really even more embarrassed by how much he had overslept, considering Yuuri had been up before him. He re-entered the room with a steaming cup of coffee. "How long ago did she go out?"
"Uh…" Sion thought for a moment. "About quarter to seven," he replied.
Tatsuya froze for a moment and looked at the clock. It was now almost half past ten. "She's been gone for over three hours," he said and both Sion and Ayase stopped what they were doing. "Is she usually gone for this long?"
The two other Timerangers looked at each other before turning to face Tatsuya, all three of them wearing worried looks.
"No," Ayase said. "She's usually gone for an hour, tops." He looked over at Sion who nodded his head eagerly in agreement.
"Maybe she went to see Domon-san and Honami-san," he suggested.
"Maybe…"
Ayase lifted his wrist and spoke into his Chrono Changer. "Domon."
There was a few seconds of silence before Domon responded. "Yo, Ayase, what's up?"
"Yuuri isn't with you, is she?"
"No. Why would she be?"
"No reason. Just thought we'd check." Ayase let out a heavy sigh.
"Is something going on?" Domon's voice asked.
"No, nothing for you to worry about. Thanks, Domon." Ayase ended the communication and looked at the other two. "She's not there."
Tatsuya shared a look of worry with the other two before speaking into his own Chrono Changer. "Yuuri," he began. He waited, but there was no response. "Yuuri," he repeated. When there was still no response, he turned to Taku. "Can you find her?" he asked the robotic owl.
Taku opened his eyes. "I can't find her," he said, shaking his head.
The three male Timerangers looked at each other, surprised. All of three of them began to feel increasingly panicked.
"She has to be somewhere," Ayase said. "Does this building have security cameras?"
"I shall try and access them," Taku replied and Sion linked him up to the computer. The navigator owl closed his eyes and the three males watched apprehensively, waiting. After a few minutes, Taku's eyes shot open. "I found her!"
The three men leaned in close to computer as a video came up of Yuuri talking to two men on the steps outside of the building.
"Who are they?" Sion asked, leaning in closer.
"I can't make them out," Ayase replied. "They're too far away."
Tatsuya bit his lip nervously. He knew that the two men in the video with Yuuri had something to do with her disappearance.
"Isn't there any sound so we can hear what they're saying?" Ayase asked.
Taku shook his head. "This is the best I can do," he said sadly.
"You've done a good job," Sion replied, patting Taku on his head. "Hopefully this'll show us what happened."
They continued to watch as Yuuri and the two men continued their conversation. All three feeling increasing anxious about was going to happen the longer the video continued. They watched as Yuuri, apparently fed up of the conversation, turned around to head back into the building when one of them ran up behind her and hit her in the back of her neck with the side of his hand, knocking her out. Sion let out a gasp of surprise as they watched her fall to the ground, into the arms of the person who had hit her.
Tatsuya felt his blood begin to boil as he watched. She had been attacked and kidnapped right on their doorstep and he had been too busy sleeping!
"Wait, stop the video," Ayase called and Taku instantly froze it, leaving a frozen image of Yuuri and the two men, whose faces were now clearly visible as the second man had rushed up to help the first with Yuuri.
"Isn't that…" Sion gasped upon recognising their faces.
Tatsuya looked at the screen and felt a sudden flash of anger. "Gaku and Kai."
G|T
"I don't get it," Domon said, pacing up and down. "Why would they take Yuuri?"
As soon as they had recognised the faces of the two kidnappers, they had called Domon, who had rushed back with Honami and Mirai, informing of them of what had transpired. At first, Domon had been reluctant to believe that the two Gaorangers were responsible, considering the fact that they had been trying to gain their trust, but as soon as he had seen the video, his own anger grew and it took the combined efforts of all three of the other male Timerangers to keep him from storming out of the apartment – though Ayase and Sion had already had to do this with Tatsuya after he had overcame the initial shock of what he and seen and who was now still boiling with rage.
"We don't know," Ayase replied for what felt the hundredth time. He sighed and folded his arms against his chest. They had been repeating the same conversations since they had seen the footage on the computer and were still trying to understand what the Gaorangers wanted with Yuuri.
Honami rocked Mirai in her arms as the child began to stir slightly. "There must be some reasonable explanation," she voiced. "Maybe they never initially intended to kidnap her. Maybe they just wanted to talk to her but things got… out of hand."
The Timerangers looked at each other. That thought had already crossed their minds, but what they couldn't understand was why they just spoke to Yuuri.
"But why just speak to Yuuri-san?" Sion said. "They know how stubborn she is about working with them. Why not approach one of us instead?"
Honami shrugged her shoulders. "Like you said, she's stubborn. Maybe they thought that they could convince her and that's why they only spoke to her and when she didn't listen or agree, they didn't know what else to do so they took to try and convince her again."
"This is ridiculous," Domon almost shouted. "How could they do something like this?"
Mirai stirred more in Honami's arms and began to make crying sounds at the sound of his father's raised voice. Honami quickly shushed him, rocking him back and forth in her arms, humming a soft tune to quieten her son, shooting Domon an annoyed look as she did so.
"Sorry," he muttered. "I just don't get it."
"None of us do," Honami said gently. She felt the same way as the four males did, but she knew that there had to be a reasonable explanation as to what had happened. She looked over at Tatsuya who saw sat staring at the frozen image of Yuuri on the computer screen. She walked over to him and rearranged Mirai in her arms so that she could place her hand on Tatsuya's shoulder. "She'll be alright," she said softly in an attempt to comfort him, since she knew how much he and Yuuri cared about each other. "They won't do anything to her."
Tatsuya tore his eyes away from the computer and turned to face Honami. "You don't know that," he almost spat at her.
"Oi! Don't talk to her like that!" Domon stomped forward.
Honami shook her head. "No, it's alright," she said. "He's just upset." She turned back to Tatsuya. "You're all Sentais. You're here to protect the planet and the people. They know the difference between right and wrong and I'm sure that all of this is just a misunderstanding."
"If that's the case then why haven't they contacted us to tell us so?" Tatsuya retorted.
Honami stopped. She hadn't thought of that. If it was all just a mistake then why hadn't the Gaorangers tried to contact them? "I don't know," she admitted.
Tatsuya stood up abruptly. "I need some air," he said, walking out of the apartment, slamming the door as he did so. Instantly Mirai began crying.
"Bastard," Domon muttered. "We're all just trying to help."
"Domon, language!" Honami cried, agast, as she set about trying to settle her child once more.
"Sorry," Domon quickly apologised. "But that guy can be such a jerk sometimes."
Sion looked back at the door Tatsuya had just exited though. "Should we go after him?" he asked, clearly worried.
Honami followed his gaze and shook her head. "Leave him be," she said. "He needs some time to calm down."
"He sure has taken this pretty hard," Ayase commented, also looking at the door.
"What do you expect?" Domon replied. "They've just been reunited and now she's missing. I know that if it was Honami that had been kidnapped I'd be pretty messed up too." He leant over and kissed her cheek before pressing his lips against his son's forehead.
G|T
The mid afternoon sun shone down as Tatsuya walked the streets of the city. He had no idea where he was going or what he was doing, he just had to get out of the apartment. He wanted to find the Gaorangers and get Yuuri back and give the Gaorangers – particularly Gaku and Kai – a good beating for what they had done. He laughed to himself as he remembered their words about working together and about trust. He definitely no longer trusted them, especially since it appeared that they were capable of assaulting and abducting another Senshi. Not to mention that that Senshi was the woman he was in love with. There was nothing that could be said or done that would make him forgive them.
He shook out and let out a frustrated cry that made passerbies on the street look at him. But he ignored them. He just needed to find a way to get Yuuri back, but how was he supposed to do that if he had no idea where she or the Gaorangers were?
He continued walking, so lost in thought that he didn't realise that instead of walking on concrete, he was walking on sand. The sound of waves crashing against each other stirred him from his thoughts and he found that he had arrived back at the beach where the Jikan Time ship was. He groaned. This was the last place he wanted to be, but regardless, he approached the ship, staring at it as if it held all of the answers he was searching for. "Where are you, Yuuri?" he muttered to himself.
As if in answer to his question, his Chrono Changer started beeping, telling him that he was being contacted, startling him. He raised his wrist and pressed his Chrono Changer, speaking into it. "Hello?"
"Tatsuya?"
"Yuuri?" he gasped, recognising the voice. "Where are you? Are you alright?" His voice came out quick and panicky.
"I'm fine," Yuuri's voice replied. "I'm with the Gaorangers." She paused. "Are you alright?"
He nodded, though he knew she couldn't see the gesture, though he instantly felt relieved and relaxed at knowing that she was safe and alright. "I am now," he told her. "The Gaorangers didn't hurt you did they? We saw the camera footage."
"Camera footage? No, no they didn't hurt me," she said. "They just wanted to talk."
"Talk?" Tatsuya's anger began to rise again and Yuuri noticed this as the tone of his voice changed.
"I'm fine, really," she softly told him. "I'll explain everything as soon as I'm with you. Just promise me one thing."
"What's that?" he asked, biting back a retort about the Gaorangers.
"That you don't hurt the Gaorangers."
He paused. Not hurt the Gaorangers? What could have happened for her to say something like that? "Why should I?"
He heard Yuuri make a sound as if she were frustrated. "Just trust me, okay?"
"Fine," he replied. He trusted her more than anyone and just hoped that she wasn't being coerced into anything.
"Okay," she sighed. "Where are you?"
"At the beach. By Jikan," he replied, looking up at the ship as he did so.
"Jikan? What are you doing there?"
Tatsuya let out a short laugh. "I don't know," he admitted and he heard her laugh on the other end.
"Okay," she said softly. "I'll be there shortly."
"I'll be waiting," he told her, wishing that he could see her face as he heard her end the transmission. He sighed deeply, lowering his arm. Even though they had only been separated for a few hours, it felt a lot longer, which he found strange considering they had spent the last year apart. "It just shows how much I miss her," he muttered to himself as he raised his wrist once more to speak into him Chrono Changer and inform the others of what was happening. As he spoke to them, he heard the sounds of their relief that Yuuri was alright before informing them that they were on their way, with Domon stating that he was going to give the Gaorangers a good kick up the ass for all the trouble they had caused, which resulted in Sion warning him about his language again.
He threw himself down onto the sand and stared at his Chrono Changer as he waited. Everyone seemed so calm about the fact that Yuuri was fine, but he couldn't rid himself of the anger that he felt towards the Gaorangers. As far as he was concerned, they had obliterated any chance of them working together with their little stunt.
The sky was beginning to turn a golden orange colour when he heard the sound of people coming towards him. He looked up to see all six of the Gaorangers and Yuuri. "Yuuri!" he called, standing up.
From where he was standing, he saw her face light up as she heard him call her name. "Tatsuya!"
His face broke into a smile as he walked towards them. They met halfway, with the Gaorangers standing a few paces behind Yuuri, but he ignored them, keeping his focus on the woman in front of him. "You're alright?" he said, placing a hand on her cheek.
Yuuri responded by giving him a small smile as she placed her hand on top of his. "I'm fine," she repeated. "I'm probably going to have a sore neck, but I'm fine."
He nodded in response before removing his hand and pulling her to him, wrapping his arms around her and she responded in kind.
The Gaorangers watched the two Timerangers and Sae turned to Gaku and Kai. "This is why you sometimes really need to think about your actions," she said to the two of them.
"Yeah, yeah," Gaku muttered, taking a step towards Tatsuya and Yuuri. "Look, I'm sorry."
At the sound of Gaku addressing them, the two Timerangers broke apart and the expression on Tatsuya's face instantly changed from one of happiness and relief to one of pure anger. "You're sorry?" He walked over to the Yellow Gaoranger and raised his fist, punching him in the face with such force that Gaku staggered back, falling onto the sand, clutching a hand to his nose which was streaming with blood. Instantly the Gaorangers were at their comrade's side as Yuuri dived in front of Tatsuya, placing her hands against his chest.
"Tatsuya, don't," she said, looking up at him, panic in her eyes. She had never seen him loose control like that. "I know that he deserved it, but, just, don't."
Tatsuya was breathing heavily and he shook his hand, trying to relieve some of the pain that was throbbing in it from the impact. Upon hearing her voice, he looked down at her face and his breathing instantly began to steady. "I'm sorry," he said to her. "I just so angry and worried about you. I don't know what I was thinking."
She shook her head at him. "It's alright," she told him. She was about to say something else when she heard a shout and turned to see the remaining Timerangers running across the sand towards them.
"Yuuri! Tatsuya!" Ayase shouted.
"Yuuri-san, you're alright," Sion said happily as they came to a stop next to them.
Domon looked over at Gaku who was being helped to his feet by the other Gaorangers, blood still streaming from his nose. "Damn, what happened to you?" he asked, unable to keep the smile from his face at the sight.
"Tatsuya punched him," Sae said, a look of displeasure on her face.
Domon laughed and turned to Tatsuya, clasping his shoulder. "Damn, I didn't know you had it in you." He laughed again and looked over at the Gaorangers. "So this is what happens when someone messes with your girl?"
Both Tatsuya and Yuuri blushed at this, while the other three Timerangers shared amused looks.
"I don't see what's so funny," Gaku retorted. "That bloody well hurt." He pushed the side of his nose and an audible crack could be heard, making Sae, Kai and Sion wince. He then rubbed his nose.
"Serves you right, though," Kakeru said and Gaku shot him a look, which he ignored as he approached the Gaorangers. "I'm sorry for the actions of Yellow and Blue," he said. "They just wanted to talk to Yuuri alone and when that didn't work, well…" He shrugged his shoulders.
"They took me to Gao's Rock, their base," Yuuri continued. "I listened to Tetomu, the priestess of Gao's Rock and to Kakeru." She turned so that she was facing her own comrades. "I saw and felt some things and I've decided that we should work with the Gaorangers."
"What?" Tatsuya was surprised at what he was hearing. "After what they did to you, you want to work with them?"
"I know it seems weird considering their actions, but when I was there," she let out a sigh as she remembered the power that coursed through her when she touched GaoLion, "Tetomu and Kakeru explained some things to me and I understand now."
"Understand what? I don't understand."
Yuuri looked over at Kakeru, who nodded. "Tetomu believed that the identical dreams the six of us have been experiencing are connecting us to you guys. The dreams were a way of our Power Animals telling us that something was coming – that you and Serperant were coming. Tetomu decided that we have to work together in order to defeat Serperant and the Orgs."
"I've met the Power Animals," Yuuri said, turning back to the Timerangers. "That's why I changed my mind."
Ayase, Domon and Sion nodded in agreement.
"That's what I've been saying all along," Domon said, "that we need to work together."
Ayase elbowed Domon in the side.
"Ow! Damn it Ayase. What was that for?" he asked as Sion laughed, knowing that that hadn't been Domon's opinion the entire time.
Yuuri looked at Tatsuya who hadn't responded. She took his bruising hand into both of his. She gently rubbed it and he looked at her. "I know you don't see eye-to-eye with them at the moment, but I know that this is the right thing to do. You trust me, don't you?"
"Of course I trust you," he responded softly.
She smiled. "Good and just so you know, we're the ones in charge, right?" she directed at Kakeru who nodded in agreement.
"Okay," Tatsuya said, somewhat reluctantly, "but if they put one toe out of line–"
"You can punch them as hard as you like," she finished for him with a warm smile, which he returned.
He moved around Yuuri, who let go of his hand, so that he was facing Kakeru. He held out his hand. "Here's to teamwork," he said.
Kakeru clasped his hand and shook it. "To teamwork."
"Ah, isn't this nice," a voice said, breaking the two Red's apart, all of them instantly taking up stances (Gaku ignoring his bleeding nose, though it had now abated slightly) as they were confronted with the sight of Lila with Serperant at her side. "The two Sentais getting all cosy with each other."
"What do you want Lila?" Ayase shouted at her.
"I don't want anything," she replied nonchalantly. "Serperant on the other hand…" She stood to one side, allowing her comrade full sensory view of the eleven people in front of him. He let out a vehement hiss as Lila smiled broadly.
Serperant lifted his sniper rifle and fixed it on one of the eleven, letting his finger pull back and let go of the trigger in one swift movement before they had a chance to react. His mouth curved into a smile.
He hadn't missed.
Wow, this actually took me only a few hours to write! What is wrong with me?
So, we're finally getting back to some action and fights with the next chapter - yay(!)
