Here's the new chapter!
TJ fluttered his eyes open, feeling a sharp pain in his left arm. He was buried under the debris of the building and hoped that everyone was all right. He used his good arm to pull himself up from the wood and plaster that was around him.
The force of Kim's power and the collapse of the roof forced TJ to demorph and he figured that everyone else had also been forced to demorph.
TJ coughed, feeling short of breath. "Guys? How is everyone?" He listened for a few moments and didn't hear anything. "Are you guys okay?" He heard coughing near him and he felt his heart do a quick backflip in his chest.
A cough meant that someone was alive.
"I'm here!" TJ yelled, holding his hurt arm close to his body. He saw a light blue t-shirt and knew that Tori was buried near him. He heard her cough again. "Tor! Hang on!"
TJ grunted as he raised a heavy bar of wood. He threw it to the side and hoped that he didn't just condemn another one of his friends.
"I've got you, Tori," he said, squatting down.
Tori was lying face down, coughing into the floor. She tried to roll over, but only managed to halfway.
"Are you hurt, Tori? Can you stand?"
She coughed again, trying to sit up, and nodded. "I think...I'm not hurt. I could stand."
TJ nodded and extended his hand. "Let's find the others. Be careful, Tor."
"Are you all right?" she asked, taking his good hand. She gestured to his hurt arm.
"I'll be fine. Let's just find the others."
Kim stood across the street from Storm Chargers, smiling to herself. She was quite pleased with her work, thus far. She gazed upon the completely destroyed store.
The roof had caved in and the windows were blown apart. Glass had flown everywhere and it looked as if a bomb exploded in the store.
She knew the rangers were still alive. She could feel it. . She could end their lives now if she chose to. Kim played with a lighter that she picked up from somewhere. She used her red beam to enhance the flame and threw it around the street.
Now there were a number of small flame balls circling the store and up and down the street.
Kim smiled again and wiated a bit. Once this part of her plan was finished, she could move on to the next phase:
Kill Lothor.
"TJ! I think Ashley's over here!" Tori yelled. She dropped down and tried to peek underneath a large piece of debris. She locked eyes with Ashley and tried to reach underneath to grab her hand.
"I'm here, Ash," Tori said, grasping her hand. "We'll get you out, I promise."
"Ca-" Ashely coughed harshly, interrupting herself. "Cassie," she said in a ragged voice. "I saw-I saw her get hit."
"We'll get her out, too."
"I'll be there, Tori!" yelled TJ. He helped Shane and Blake stand up, both of them brushing dust off of themselves. "Are you guys all right?"
Shane and Blake nodded.
"I'm good," said Blake. He patted himself down, checking for injuries.
"Me too," added Shane.
"Okay. We have to find the others." TJ looked over at Tori and saw her on the ground. "Tori said Ashley's over there. We still need to find Carlos, Cassie, and Tommy. And Billy, Hunter, Dustin, and Kelly if they didn't make it out."
Shane nodded. "Blake, go ahead to the back. Make sure they got out in time." Blake nodded and ran to the back. "TJ, I'll look over here for Carlos."
TJ nodded as he headed for Tori. He crouched down, bringing himself eye level with Ashley. "Hey Ash!" he said in a kind and calming voice. "We'll have you out of there in no time, all right?"
Ashley coughed again and said something undistinguishable.
"She's calling for Cassie," Tori answered TJ's silent question. "Hey, this thing is too heavy for me to lift or get off of her. If I slide it, I think I might trap her more."
"Okay, okay." TJ looked around quickly and felt relief at seeing Shane and Carlos nearby. "Let's try and lift it, okay."
"You sure you can?" Tori gestured to TJ's arm.
TJ nodded. "I'm fine." He stood and grabbed hold of one side, squatting to get a better grip. "On the count of three."
Tori nodded and grasped the other end. She squatted and was ready to throw her weight into the heavy piece of wood.
"1...2...3"
At three, Tori and TJ grunted as they raised the piece of debris high over their heads and tossed it across the room. Ashley kicked away a smaller piece of debris and sat up.
"Are you okay?" Tori asked, leaning down to brush some plaster dust from her face.
Ashley nodded and coughed. "I'm fine. Where's Cassie? I saw her get hit by one of the beams of wood." The three of them looked around.
"Oh...my...g-"
"CASSIE!" Ashley yelled. She jumped on her knees and tried to dig her way though the debris.
A long stream of blood trickled out from beneath the debris. Small pieces of pink fabric and gray fabric were strewn around them. Tori dropped to her knees and helped Ashley dig, trying to hold her tears in. TJ stood behind them, not knowing exactly what to do, looking defeated.
Kim laughed from her spot across the street. She heard every word and could feel every bit of pain they felt.
And she enjoyed it. Every second of it. She longed for more of it. She craved it, even.
Kim wanted them to suffer. All of them. Suffer before they became her slaves. Before she stole their powers to make her the most powerful being in the world.
Again, Kim played with the lighter in her hands. She liked the fire. She didn't feel anything when she ran her hands through it.
No, wait. She did feel one thing.
She felt like the most powerful person on the planet.
"I think...I think someone's here," Shane said, gesturing down. "It looks like a red shirt." He knelt down and threw aside some wood. "I think it's, um..."
"Tommy," Carlos finished. He moved over next to Shane and the two of them threw aside more of the debris.
Tommy's eyes fluttered open and he looked around in a panic.
"Oh no," he thought. "What happened? What have I done? Where's Kim? And Jason?"
"Tommy?" asked Carlos. "Tommy, are you all right?" He peered at Tommy and moved aside more debris.
Tommy shook his head a bit and tried to focus on the long-haired man in front of him. "What...what happened?"
"You don't remember what happened?"
Tommy shook his head again. "No...I mean...yes...I do...but...did that really happen?" He coughed and shook a bit, sending up a cloud of white dust.
"Are you hurt, Tommy?"
Tommy closed his eyes briefly and thought about Carlos' question. He wasn't physically hurt, but he was mentally and emotionally drained. "No, I'm fine," he answered with indifference.
Carlos closely stared at him for a few seconds that seemed to take hours. "Okay." He looked around at a teenager that Tommy didn't recognize. "Come on, help me get him up."
Kim lit the lighter and watched the flames dance around her. She took the flame from the lighter and held it in her hand, seemingly holding the small flame in midair, as if her hand was a candle.
She threw the lighter off to the side and threw the small flame between her hands. She could feel the power coursing through her body and couldn't wait to unleash it on the world. She felt as though nothing could stop her.
Kim held the small flame in her hand and watched as it grew. She raised it and held it up toward the store, preparing to throw it.
"Cassie!" Ashley cried out.
She and Tori managed to unearth Cassie's body from underneath the debris and found her with her leg stuck underneath a heavy and long piece of wood. She was half-conscious and kept reaching for her abdomen, where blood had seeped through her ripped shirt.
"TJ! Help us!"
Ashley and Tori threw all their weight in trying to lift the wood, but it wouldn't budge.
"TJ!"
Tommy heard the yelling from the other end of the room and he suddenly jumped up. He, Carlos, and Shane ran over to Ashley and Tori and helped them lif the heavy wood. Carlos threw TJ a confused look before looking down at Cassie and pulling off his jacket to hold to Cassie's side.
Blake looked around the back of Storm Chargers, noticing how the damage wasn't quite so bad back there. There were still some problems, but for the most part, it seemed as if Kim had only attacked the front part of the store. He looked around for any sign of Kelly, Hunter, Dustin, or Billy and was relieved to see the back door casually thrown open.
"Good," he thought. "They got away."
He wiped his forehead of sweat and dust and exhaled loudly. He wondered if he should grab anything for Kelly or any of the others. Blake glanced to the front of the store and heard them yelling. He figured they must need help out there and ran back out to the front.
"They got away!" Blake yelled. "I think they were headed back to Ninja Ops!
He ran out and saw everyone gathered around one area and noticed the blood on the floor. "Oh no," he said. "What happened?" Nobody answered him, so he ran towards them and just happened to glance up, out of the window.
Blake felt his heart stop and get caught in his throat. He felt his pulse start racing at the sight of what was outside the window.
"You guys!" he yelled. "We've got to get out of here, now!"
Kim eyed him and grinned, holding up the flame that had now grown to large fireball in her hand. She playfully swung it around and Blake could tell that she was laughing out loud.
"Guys!" Blake yelled again. "OUT! PSYCHO PINK'S GONNA BLOW THIS PLACE!"
Tommy, Ashley, TJ, Carlos, Tori, and Shane followed Blake's gaze toward the window. All of them panicked when they saw Kim. Tommy leaned down and easily picked up Cassie. Ashley followed him, holding Carlos' jacket to Cassie's side.
"The back!" Blake yelled. "Go out in the back!"
Shane led Carlos, Tommy, Ashley, and TJ towards the back. Blake prepared to run after them, but noticed Tori still staring out the window.
"Tori! Come on, let's go!" He ran back and grabbed her hand, dragging her after the others.
"Too late, rangers!" Kim yelled out loud as she threw the fireball into the window.
Thanks for reading! Please review and let me know what you think!