A/N: I based this episode off of an awesome quote, and now instead of summarizing the next episode, I'll leave a quote in the description and leave you to figure it out, but since I love this quote, I'll give you it. If there's no quote I can find, I'll leave it with a TBA.
"I think if I've learned anything about friendship, it's to hang in, stay connected, fight for them, and let them fight for you. Don't walk away, don't be distracted, don't be too busy or tired, don't take them for granted. Friends are part of the glue that holds life and faith together. Powerful stuff."
-John Katz
Two weeks. That's how long it's been since James last saw Anna, and he was getting a bit antsy. While he knew she could take care of herself as a Nephilim and everything, it still worried him.
Still, he had to deal with other worries. He had no idea what he was doing to the future or his remaining family and girlfriend. He sighed to himself and fell back onto his bed.
He hated these kinds of thoughts, they angered him. He knew the others didn't know too much about him yet, and taking it out on them would not be good, so he needed to push these feelings back.
He sat back up and looked at the clock. He stood, and walked out of his room and into the kitchen. Robin and Jesse were now sitting next to each other with Scott and Spencer sitting next to each other on the other side of the table.
"What is going on?" He asked, sitting down in his chair next to Scott.
"Jesse and I would like to say something." Robin smiled nervously.
"Alright. What is it?" Scott inquired.
The two held up their hands, which were intertwined with each other. "We're dating."
There was a silence among the room. Spencer looked horribly confused, Scott and Matt were shocked, and James smiled at them.
"Excellent. You two will make a fine couple." James praised.
"You're new here, but these two don't exactly have the best history together." Scott cringed. "This is really strange."
"Not really." Jesse shook his head.
"Well, as someone who watched you two fight for the past 10 years, its weird."
"I don't think it's that bad. I mean, whatever makes them happy." Spencer said.
"I don't even know what to say." Matt admitted.
"This is going better than I expected." Robin said, raising her eyebrows.
"That's true." Jesse agreed.
"Are you guys really serious?" Scott asked skeptically.
"Positive. Why?" Robin narrowed her eyes at him.
"Nothing." Scott smiled suddenly. "Is it time for school yet?" He looked back at Kyro, who nodded, not seeming fazed by the news at all. "Great, let's go get our bags."
He stood up slower than usual, still recovering from his injuries, but better off than Jesse. As the other rangers stood, Jesse stayed sitting. He was too injured to do much besides walk from his room to the kitchen, so he was staying at AD while the others went to school.
Robin came back in with her bag and kissed him before helping him up slowly. He winced as he did so but thanked her as she and the others left and he walked back to his room to rest.
~PRDS~
James sat in history class, nearly ready to doze off when Dr. Parker slammed a book down on his desk, startling him. "James, no sleeping in class should be an obvious rule." He smirked.
"I apologize, Dr. Parker. I shall never do so again." James promised, making the class laugh, much to James' confusion. "What is happening?" The class laughed even harder, making Dr. Parker look at James with frustration.
"I'll talk to you after class." He told him before going back up to the board to finish off his lesson.
James was extremely confused and wondered why the class laughed and why he was in trouble.
After class, all of the other students stood while James stayed in his seat. Dr. Parker walked up to the free chair in front of James' desk and sat down, looking straight at the boy. "James, why did you that today? You're usually such a good and quiet student."
"I apologize, however, I am unaware of what I did wrong." James told him.
"Why do you talk like that?" Dr. Parker asked him. James cocked his head to the side in confusion and Dr. Parker sighed. "You're serious, aren't you?"
"What tone of voice was I using to make me sound like I was joking?" James inquired politely.
Dr. Parker shook his head. "Alright, why were you falling asleep?"
"I was unable to sleep much last night." James answered.
"Why?"
"I do not wish to explain." James said. He was very stressed and was having a hard time falling asleep for the past few nights. Not that he would say anything to anyone else.
"Would you like to explain to a counselor maybe?" Dr. Parker suggested.
"No, I would not. I prefer to keep thoughts to myself. I will refuse to say anything to her."
"Of course you would." Dr. Parker sighed. As he opened his mouth again, Scott popped in through the door.
"Hey, Dr. Parker, hey James. What are you guys talking about?"
Dr. Parker turned around and smiled at Scott. "Nothing. James, would you like to go with Scott?"
James nodded. "Yes, thank you." He walked outside of the class.
Scott frowned. "I'll meet him out there, I was just wondering how you were doing, though? I noticed that you haven't been here for a few days, did you get sick?"
Dr. Parker seemed startled by this question, but nodded after a moment. "Yeah, I came down with the flu."
"Oh, well are you feeling better?" Scott asked, worried for his father figure.
"Yes, thank you, Scott. Now go on, enjoy your lunch." Dr. Parker smiled.
"Alright. See you later." Scott waved to him as he went out and met James outside of the class. He looked sad and had a faraway look in his eyes. "James, if everything alright?"
James sighed. "No, Scott, nothing is quite alright."
"Do you wanna talk about it?" Scott looked concerned.
James looked tired and seemed as if he was always running himself ragged. Lately, however, Scott and the others had been noticing James not eating as much and training even more. He was beginning to get thinner and it was scaring the rangers, though, with the small amount of time they had actually known James, thought it would be better not to pry too much into his personal life, especially after what happened to him when he was in his own time.
James shook his head, of course. "No, thank you. I will work this on my own." They were both silent for a moment before James spoke up again. "Shall we go to the table?"
Scott nodded. "Yeah, lets go."
As they walked off, Dr. Parker came out from the door and smiled sadly at them. "Such good kids, I feel bad that they have to fight as hard as they do. At least I'll be able to help them soon."
Meanwhile at the table, Robin sulked as Spencer and Matt discussed a book for English class. "So what do blue eyes symbolize in this book?" Matt questioned, flipping through a few pages.
"The blue eyes symbolize difference. See, Jonas longs for Sameness, another special trait of the people in the community, and his blue eyes make him stand out, and he often gets defensive whenever anyone says anything about it, like when his sister Lily did. However, after Jonas meets The Giver and begins to receive memories, he begins to love and accept that differences are not bad things, and that being unique is actually a good thing." Spencer explained.
"Well, obviously you're gonna get an A on the test." Matt frowned mockingly.
Spencer smirked. "Naw, probably not. I only read the book like 3 times before this."
"Really?" Matt raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't you have gotten sick of it by now?"
Spencer shook his head. "No, it a really good book, and I can read things over and over if its good enough."
"Hey guys," Robin said, attracting their attention. "How much longer do you think we have in school today?"
Matt shrugged. "I'm not good at math."
"About an hour and a half, maybe two. Why?" Spencer raised his eyebrows. "Missing Jesse?"
Robin nodded. "Yeah. When do you guys think Kyro will let him come back to school?"
"Robin, calm down. He'll be back before you know it." Matt told her.
Robin frowned and looked over at him. "I'm perfectly calm. Is it illegal for me to wonder about my boyfriend? My severely injured one at that."
"What do you think is gonna happen? AD is a perfectly safe place for him." Spencer assured her. "He'll be fine."
"I wonder what he's doing right now." Robin thought aloud.
~PRDS~
Jesse sighed as he turned over in bed, trying to find a comfortable position to lay in. However, his injuries made it hard to find anything really comfortable, but as comfortable as he could get was what he wanted.
Kyro walked in and saw him roll back to where he was facing the ceiling. Jesse noticed he was here, and when he looked in his direction and saw that he was holding some soup, he smiled.
"Is that for me?" Jesse asked as he pushed himself up into a sitting position, wincing as he did so.
"Yeah, how are you feeling?" Kyro asked as he handed it to him.
Jesse sighed. "Honestly, it still shocks me that I was able to get out of bed this morning."
"Do you need a painkiller? Sorry didn't give you one this morning, it slipped my mind." Kyro said.
Jesse nodded. "Yeah, please. After I'm done, though. Those things really know how to knock people out."
Kyro laughed. "Yes, they are the most powerful ones I have in pill form."
Jesse looked shocked. "In pill form? That's scary, dude. Those things put you to sleep in like ten minutes."
Kyro nodded. "Yes, but the other ones are intravenous, and don't exactly make you tired more than a lethargic feeling state. I'll be right back."
"Alright." Jesse said as Kyro left the room. He took the first sip of his soup right when the alarm rang out, almost making him spill his soup all over himself and the bed.
His natural reaction would be to get out of bed, get the location of the battle, and run over there to help the others, and he really would've, but with how horrible and miserable he felt, he didn't think he could move a muscle. All he could do was to hope the none of the rangers got hurt and that Robin would be okay.
~PRDS~
When the other rangers got to the battle, they were just a bit freaked out when they saw the spider themed 'monster-of-the-week', Karyudosu. The strangest thing about this monster was not it itself, but how it had a machete and crossbow as weapons, just like a hunter would have.
"Karyudosu, what are you doing here?" Matt yelled as Robin and Scott helped people run away from the sight.
"What am I doing here? I am here to destroy the very ground you walk on, rangers, I am here to destroy all of the life on this planet, and I am here to destroy this Earth!" Karyudosu yelled back, cackling as he did so.
"You wont get away with that! Ready?" Matt asked.
"Ready." James and Spencer nodded.
"Ready!" Robin called as she and Scott ran back over after clearing all of the people from the area.
"Dino Squad, Power Up!"
"Power of the Tyrannosaurus!"
"Power of the Parasaurolophus!"
"Power of the Stegosaurus!"
"Power of the Triceratops!"
"Power of the Pterodactyl!"
Matt and Spencer pulled out their swords and ran forward, leaving the others to deal with a small army of Zorima that had appeared right when they morphed. Matt jumped up, flipping through the air and bringing the sword down Karyudosu's head as he landed behind him. However, Karyudosu quickly turned and roundhouse kicked him in the chest, knocking him back with the force of Karyudosu's whole weight.
Spencer tried to catch the alien off guard, but he quickly turned and grabbed the blue ranger's sword just as he was about to bring it down and pulled it out of Spencer's grasp, throwing it to the side before catching his side with the machete weapon, causing Spencer to fly into a tree. His side was bleeding from the machete, and it was obviously going to need stitches.
James, meanwhile, punched a Zorima in the face, seeing the action from the other fight. He picked up one of the Zorima and swung it around, using it to destroy the rest of the ones around him before pushing his way past Scott and Robin and blasting Karyudosu back.
The alien, however, recovered as quickly as he could slashed James as he came over to attack him. James fell to the side, stunned and in slight pain, but compared to what he had faced in the future, this was pretty much nothing.
Matt got back up and blasted the alien to the side and took the opportunity to land a few punches and a kick on the alien in the same shot he was blasted in. Karyudosu howled in pain and grabbed Matt's foot as he came in for another kick and spun him around like James had down with the Zorima and threw him off into the side of a building. It was obvious Matt was straining to hold his morph, and he wasn't doing the best job as his morph flickered a few times before it dropped completely.
Spencer staggered to his feet, weak from blood loss, but determined to hold his morph long enough to strike the alien at least once. He got his wish, as he was able to punch Karyudosu in the blast spot before Karyudosu forced him to the ground and kicked his side, causing him to demorph.
James stood back up now and blasted Karyubosu in the head, forcing the alien away from Spencer and into the ground. Just like with the spot Matt had blasted, the right side of his face was now burned.
Karyubosu had had enough. He shot an arrow from his crossbow at James just as he disappeared. James wasn't feeling too well to begin with, especially now in the battle, so he didn't react fast enough when the arrow was shot, leaving it to get stuck in his shoulder. He cried out in pain and fell to his knees in pain, demorphing as he went down.
He stood back up only to fall back down. Matt and Scott caught him and lowered him onto the ground. "We have to pull this out. Just brace yourself." Matt warned him.
"Just do it." James told him.
Robin, meanwhile, had ran over to Spencer and was pressing her already ruined jacket to his side while holding him up. She cringed as James let out an almost animalistic cry of pain as Matt ripped the arrow out of his shoulder while Scott held him down.
She ignored this as best as possible to try and focus on making sure Spencer didn't bleed to death. Of course, one person always watched these battles. Reese. He ran over and kneeled on the other side of his half-conscious younger brother.
"Spence, can you hear me?" Reese asked, reaching out and turning Spencer's face towards him.
"Huhh...?" Spencer groaned. "What's going on, Reese?" He asked, feeling exhausted and weak from blood loss.
Reese simply looked over at Robin. "We should get him and James to AD pronto."
"Yeah." Robin nodded.
~PRDS~
"What happened in the battle anyway?" Jesse asked as they all sat around in the infirmary around Spencer and James, who were holding their hands over injured body parts.
"This new alien, Karyudosu, he has a machete and crossbow. He's crazy." Robin explained.
Jesse looked over at Kyro. "Can I go help them next time?"
Kyro nearly let himself laugh. "No. Karyudosu will be back before your even well enough to go out of AD."
Reese broke his gaze away from his brother and looked over Jesse. He was paler than usual and was shaky even when he was sitting down. It was very obvious that he had been injured, especially since there was a faint outline of bandages around his chest from under his shirt. He didn't ask what happened, especially since Spencer spoke up at that second.
"Reese, why were you around the battle? You could've gotten hurt." Spencer frowned at his older brother.
Reese gave him a small smile. "Spencer, I started watching every battle like that after you told me that you were a ranger. And anyway, the aliens never see me. They're mostly preoccupied, if you hadn't noticed."
"Still, if they do see you..." He trailed off, not wanting to think about the possibility of losing his brother, especially after what had happened. "How are you feeling anyway?"
"Shouldn't I be asking you that?"
Spencer rolled his eyes. "I'm fine."
"That's the painkillers talking." Kyro told him as he walked by them. "It did require a few stitches and should be sore."
"Can I go to battle?" Spencer asked.
Kyro stopped in front of the door. "You and Jesse are off ranger duty until you two get better, or at least well enough to fight." He left without another word.
Robin looked over at James now, who was silent. "You're gonna go to battle with that shoulder?"
James nodded emotionlessly. "No." He said monotonously.
He had been very shaken up after the battle and it was clear to the others something was wrong. James was feeling very guilty and upset about the future, but he wasn't ready to share the important parts of the whole story.
"Are you alright? You seem upset." Robin asked, concerned for the gold ranger.
"I'm fine, thank you." James nodded, even though it was clear that this wasn't true.
~PRDS~
Later, Jesse laid in his room when Robin came in with a glass of water and some painkillers in her hands. "I thought you might need this."
Jesse smiled. "I swear you're an angel." He sat up wincing, and Robin immediately handed him the pills and glass of water, that he downed quickly before leaning back against the wall and handing her the empty glass, which she set on the nightstand.
"How are you feeling?" She asked as she took his hand and sat on her knees on the ground next to his bed.
He used his other hand to touch her cheek lightly. "Better now."
"Well, obviously, you just took painkillers." Robin smirked.
"That, and because you're here." Jesse said.
Robin smiled and stood up and kissed his forehead. Jesse gave her a look. "Isn't that usually what the guy does to the girl?"
"Not when the guy can barely stand." Robin told him.
"I can stand." Jesse yawned, the painkillers beginning to take their effect.
Robin nodded and pulled the blankets up to his shoulders. "Alright." She rolled her eyes slightly. "Get some rest. Call me in here when you wake up, okay?"
Jesse groaned lightly in response as sleep finally took over.
Robin let a small smile grace her lips as she saw him sleep. Just as she was about to leave, the alarm rang out. "Great." She muttered under her breath. She look back at Jesse one more time before leaving for the battle.
~PRDS~
Robin had to admit that this was one of the first times she was late to a battle, but at least she was morphed when she got there.
People were scattered around, some running away, some injured, and some dead. It was a horrific sight, but she knew it could only get worse. She saw Matt and Scott taking care of the monster, so she rushed over to help people.
A few people ran into her as they ran off, but she wasn't focusing on them. She needed to help those who were injured, and fast. She helped to women up. "Run!"
They nodded and ran off. Robin turned around to help more people when a girl she recognized appeared in her line of view. "October?" It was the girl she had rescued from the falling building just before James showed up.
"You remember me, pink ranger?" October asked, pushing some stray hairs out of her face.
"Yeah, what are you doing here? Its dangerous." She warned her.
October looked determined. "I'm going to help people. You saved my family's life, and now I want to save others lives. My brother's helping too." She said just as her brother came up beside her.
"You're the one that saved our lives. Thanks. I'm Ryder, by the way." He smiled at her. He had brown hair and eyes, and was a lot taller than her at 5'10.
"No problem, but it's too dangerous for you guys to be out here unprotected. I strongly suggest you run." Robin said urgently, looking past them in time to see Matt take a nasty blow from Karyudosu.
"If you three are taking down the monster, we have nothing to worry about. We'll get the people out of here, just destroy the monster." Ryder told her.
Robin sighed. "Alright, just be careful." She said in a strained voice.
"We will." The two nodded and ran over to help people as Robin ran forward, shooting at Karyudosu with her blaster.
Karyudosu already had Scott and Matt on the ground, not demorphed, but obviously disoriented, so taking out Robin wouldn't be hard. He grabbed her arm as she punched at him and flipped her over and slammed her into the ground, stepping on her chest with his foot.
~PRDS~
Meanwhile, James worked furiously on the punching bag, nearly knocking it out of the ceiling. His shoulder still ached but it didn't stop him once. Kyro came in and watched him silently for a few moments before speaking up.
"You should be resting your shoulder." Kyro said. "You could injure it further."
"I do not care."
Kyro sighed. "James, what's going on? You've been acting up almost all day. Is something wrong?"
James turned on him and stared at him with red rimmed eyes and a tear traveling down his face. Kyro had never seen someone so broken before. "I can not keep pretending that everything is okay. I know I am changing the future as I am here, however, I do not know if it is for the better or worse. Then again, what could be worse then what happened?"
He sighed and spoke up again. "When AD collapsed, it did not just kill you and the people that worked there. It killed almost everybody I loved. My whole family except for my older brother was killed. My brother; he was barely alive when I left, only being kept alive by machines while in a coma. The only person I have left to care for me is Anna, and I have not seen her in weeks. I have no idea where she could be. I am alone now. I have no one."
Kyro put a hand on his shoulder. "That's not true. The other rangers care about you a lot. You're their friend, their teammate. The team is like an extended family. You'll always have the rangers to back you up. They'll never turn their backs on you. All they want is for you to open up to them, and accept them as your friends."
James looked up at Kyro and for the first time in a while, had a small smile on his face. "Thank you."
"No problem."
James wiped away his tears and ran out of AD.
~PRDS~
Matt cried out in pain as he was slashed with Karydosu's machete weapon and thrown into a car. Scott and Robin regrouped with him and pulled his to his feet.
"You alright?" Scott asked.
"Not really, what about you guys?" Matt asked.
The two shook their head. "Not even close." Scott answered.
"Agreed. I'm surprised we haven't demorphed yet." Robin said.
Karyudosu pointed his crossbow at them with three arrows loaded into it. Before the rangers even had time to move, he shot them. Suddenly, they were shot out of the air by a blast. The gold ranger ran in front of them. "If you want them, you will have to get through me. You will never harm my friends again."
He blasted Karyudosu in the face where he had been shot by Matt before and ran up, plunging his sword deep into the alien's side, also where Matt had blasted earlier that day.
Karyudosu gasped in pain and stared at James with wide eyes. "You defeated me." It gasped out. "How?"
"Protecting my friends is my main priority right now, and that is exactly what I am doing!" James answered, pulling his sword out of the alien's side and stepping to the side as it fell to the ground as exploded behind him.
As they all cheered for James and began to walk back towards AD, they didn't happen to see two rangers watching them, purple and cyan. Both were males, and purple was 5'10 and cyan was 5'9. They were hiding at opposite sides of the street before seeing each other. They both shot each other confused glances before stalking off in opposite directions.
~PRDS~
As the rangers walked back into AD they were all congratulating James on the win when Kyro came up to them. "I'm guessing you guys won." He smiled.
"Actually, James won. He beat Karyudosu all by himself." Matt announced.
"Really? That's fantastic." Kyro smiled. He turned to Robin. "Jesse woke up a few minutes ago and has been asking for you."
"Thanks Kyro." She smiled as she passed him, turned and walked down the hallway to Jesse's room.
"So, James, how do you feel about your first lone win?" Scott asked.
James smiled. "Actually, I feel good. Awesome, really."
Next Time On Power Rangers Dino Squad: "It is a curious thing, the death of a loved one. We all know that our time in this world is limited, and that eventually all of us will end up underneath some sheet, never to wake up. And yet it is always a surprise when it happens to someone we know. It is like walking up the stairs to your bedroom in the dark, and thinking there is one more stair than there is. Your foot falls down, through the air, and there is a sickly moment of dark surprise as you try and readjust the way you thought of things."
― Lemony Snicket