Chapter 37 Success and Loss
"Amanda-sama," said a soft sweet voice during the middle of the night. "I had a bad dream."
I rolled over onto my side and saw Ahim, only that she was now five, which startled me, but I didn't show it. "What happened?" I asked.
"I saw a planet destroyed," Ahim said.
"What?" I said, sitting up slightly.
Ahim nodded slowly, tears welling up in her eyes. "I was on it," she said. "I was scared!"
"Come here," I said, hugging her as she began to cry. "Shh, shh, you're ok, Ahim, you're fine." I gently stroked her hair. "You're ok. Nothing can get you while I'm here. I won't let anyone hurt you."
"Can I sleep with you?" Ahim said. "I did not want to disturb AkaRed-san because he has been so kind helping us, he needs to get some sleep."
I nodded. "Ok," I said, letting Ahim crawl into bed next to me. She snuggled under the blankets and rested her head on my shoulder, saying, "Thank you!"
"You're welcome," I replied, putting my arm around Ahim to keep her safe.
Before I knew it, Ahim was sound asleep, and I soon followed.
The next morning, Ahim was still with me, sleeping. Being five, she looked so adorable like that.
Ahim slowly opened her eyes and yawned. "Good morning!" she said.
"Good morning," I said, getting up. "Any more bad dreams?"
"Nope!" Ahim said. "I am hungry. Is breakfast soon?"
"Yes, it is," I said. "I'll start right now. Do I have my little helper?"
Ahim nodded. "I just need to get ready," she said.
"I'll meet you in the kitchen," I said, getting up and then going to the kitchen after changing.
"Ready!" Ahim said, coming into the room in her small pink dress.
"Ok, just make sure not to wake up the others," I said. "After all, they'll be crazy."
Ahim did a small laugh. "Ok!" she said.
We started making pancakes, and it didn't take long for the other kid to wake up, which brought AkaRed out, as well.
"Breakfast!" I called as Ahim carefully piled pancakes onto the plate.
"Yay!" was the reply and they rushed to the table.
Ahim and I brought out the plates and pancakes, beginning to serve the others.
AkaRed went to the computer and started tracking the monster that had done this to the Gokaigers.
When Ahim and I finished washing the dishes, the computer started to beep.
"Amanda!" AkaRed called. "I found it!"
"Then we've got to stop it," I said as I rushed out and went next to AkaRed.
"With these kids?" AkaRed whispered, nodding back to the others.
I looked back at them, and they were looking at us, curious. "Where?" I said.
"The park," AkaRed said.
"Good," I said, turning around. "Field trip! We're going to the park!"
"Yay!" was the reply and everyone rushed out of the room and slid down the ropes.
AkaRed and I followed, and it turned out that they were leading us to the park. While they were going to play with the other kids, AkaRed and I found the monster.
"Do you mind turning my friends back to normal?" I asked.
"No!" the monster said.
"You said it," I said. "Gokai Change!"
"Gokiager!" my mobirates said.
AkaRed and I teamed up against the monster, but we were no use for the monster, being thrown back.
"Hey, we're ready to go home," Marvelous said as he and the others came to us.
"Who's that?" Joe said, nodding to the monster.
"Is he another friend?!" Luka cried, glad.
"Not even close," I said.
"This is a bad guy," AkaRed said.
"They're only five?" the monster said. "Well, I can take them off your hands for you."
"You won't hurt them!" I cried, running in front of the young Gokaigers and taking the final hit for them. With a cry of pain, I fell to a knee, unmorphing. Still determined to fight, I got back to my feet, but my leg buckled under me and I fell to the ground again.
"Amanda!" AkaRed exclaimed, letting the kids suddenly worry about me while he went to the monster. With a new passion to fight with, he took it down.
Around me, the young kids who didn't know what to do turned into the old teens they were like before I left.
"We're back to normal!" Grace said, looking at herself and the others.
"Then we can do some more help," Don said.
"Not right this second," Marvelous said as the monster grew big. "What a stubborn scallywag."
Grace and AkaRed stayed with me while the others took down the mega monster.
"Come on, let's get you to the Galleon," AkaRed said, supporting my bad side.
"Alright," I said.
"Amanda, why did you take that hit?" Grace said.
"I couldn't let you guys get hurt," I said, wincing slightly as we began to walk, but my ankle started to hurt. "Plus, I can't stand seeing little kids hurt, and you would've been seriously hurt."
"It was very selfless of you to do that," Grace said. "Father, I'm sorry for the way I acted. It wasn't right for me to be that way."
AkaRed put his hand on Grace's shoulder, causing his only daughter to look up at him. "It's not your fault," he said. "You were surrounded by the others. They are like a bad influence when kids."
"I guess it's a good thing they were never together as youngsters," I said.
We made it to the Galleon and climbed aboard, and when we went inside, the first thing we noticed was that everyone was knocked out: Marvelous was asleep in his chair, leaning back with his coat over him like a blanket, Joe was knocked out in the corner, sitting down and leaning against the wall, arms crossed, Luka and Ahim were under a blanket on the couch together, and Don and Gai were using the table as pillows as they rested their heads.
"Being kids must have made them tired," AkaRed whispered, and he noticed Grace nodding her head. "Oh, go to your room and sleep."
"Yes, Father," Grace mumbled, practically dragging her feet as she went to her room.
AkaRed put me down on a second couch and he checked to see how badly hurt I was. "This looks bad," he said in a soft voice as he had me take off my jacket and saw a cut along my side. "Where is your first aid kit?"
"It's in my room next to the bed," I said. "On the end table."
"While I get it, just lie down and rest," AkaRed said, getting to his feet.
I looked at my jacket as he went, seeing the small tears on the shoulders and arms, and then the long shredded gashes that create an "X" on the back. I sat up enough to gingerly run a hand along my back, wincing as I felt it sting and fresh blood coated my hand. "Shoot," I whispered, sitting up and seeing the blood smeared onto the brown leather. I sighed silently and looked up as AkaRed returned to the room.
"How bad is it?" AkaRed asked, noticing that I was trying to wipe the blood from my hand.
"There are a couple large cuts on my back," I replied. "But that and the cut on my leg," I carefully reached a hand down to put a hand over the beginning of the cut starting on my calf and spiraling down to my ankle, "are the only main problems."
"They need to be cleaned before they can be dressed," AkaRed said. "That way it's unlikely to be infected."
"Alright," I said. "Just give me some time to clean up and then you can dress them." I went to get to my feet, but Navi suddenly flew into the room. She was about to yell and wake the others but AkaRed got to his feet and grabbed her, keeping her silent.
"No yelling," AkaRed whispered. "They need to sleep. Wait until later."
"Ok," Navi said in a hushed tone. She broke from AkaRed and flew to the back of Marvelous' chair, her normal place. She fell asleep, herself.
"That was too close," AkaRed said, helping me up so that I could go to my room.
I nodded.
After washing up and AkaRed carefully dressing my severe cuts, we noticed that the others still weren't awake.
"What should we do?" I asked.
"I think we should make them dinner," AkaRed said. "That way they will wake up to the pleasant smells of foods they like."
"That sounds like a plan," I said.
"And since there are no little kids for me to keep track of, I'll help you," AkaRed said. "Unlike the others, I help out when I can."
"Ahim does, as well," I said, looking at the sound-asleep ex-princess, her head resting on Luka's shoulder. I remembered how she was the night before, the five-year-old sweet girl who had a nightmare about her old planet. "But I won't wake her: she just needs to sleep."
AkaRed and I prepared the food, making as little noise as possible, and soon, the smells were drifted through the Galleon. With yawns and groans, we heard the others get up, mumbling that something smelt good, but they were too drowsy to come see what it was. We heard some movement and I noticed that Don and Gai had moved to the second couch.
Just as the others were about to drift into a sleep again, AkaRed and I brought out the plates of food.
"Who's ready to eat?" I asked.
"We made something everyone likes!" AkaRed added.
"Food!" was Marvelous' first response.
As the others went around the table, I noticed that Grace had yet to return from her room. Pointing it out to AkaRed, he nodded and went to go get her.
"I'm glad you're ok," Joe said, going to hug me, but he saw my cringe as he put pressure on my back. "Are you ok?"
"Yea, just be careful with my back and leg: they were hurt when I protected you guys," I said as I sat down, him next to me. "I'm fine, really, I am."
"You know, I'm surprised you really put up with us at such young ages," Marvelous said, mouth full of food again.
"What did I tell you about talking with your mouth full?" I said.
The others smiled and laughed as Marvelous swallowed what he was eating and said, "Sorry."
Grace and AkaRed joined us, Marvelous said, "You've kept us waiting long enough, Amanda. What happened on your cruise? What did you learn?"
I told the others all the lessons I got, and even impressed them by the fight with Trimeer.
"Did you find out the Grand Power?" Luka asked. "If you fought with a GoGoV, then you must have gotten it!"
"I never told you?" I replied. "I remember telling you Monday night."
"The age process must have made them forgot, because I remember," AkaRed said.
"Yes, it was pretty easy," I said. "And Gai," I took out a piece of paper from my pocket and gave it to him, "before I forget and it's thrown away."
"Yes!" Gai cried. "Thank you so much!"
"What did you have to do?" Ahim said.
"Since the clue said friendship, and I became friends with her, I got the power that way, on the first day," I said. I held up the GoGoV red ranger key and it glowed. "Here's proof."
"Great job!" Don said.
"Couldn't have done better, myself," Grace said.
"And it's great to have everyone back to normal," I said. "After all, you guys were some trouble! Well, expect for Ahim."
Ahim smiled. "I try my best to help out, no matter what age," she said.
"Oh, so we were the problem kids?" Marvelous challenged.
"Yes," AkaRed and I said at the same time.
"You and Joe were fighting, Luka refused to eat her vegetables, Don was clinging to legs, not wanting us to go, Gai was running around talking about the Super Sentai members like he was nuts, and Grace wouldn't stop arguing with you and Luka," I said, pointing to each person as I said their name.
"Ahim helped us out, stayed out of the way when needed, and she didn't need to be punished," AkaRed added.
"I do not believe that this is really necessary at this time," Ahim said. "We should enjoy eating this wonderful dinner that Amanda-sama and AkaRed-san made for us to eat and then talk afterwards, when everything is cleaned up and everyone has settled down."
With that being said, everyone started eating.
After dinner, I was going to help AkaRed clean up, but he said, "No, get off that leg so it can heal. Ahim has offered to help me in your place while you rest up and recover from your injuries, so it's not like I'm doing this by myself." He gently took the plate from me and directed me to the couch Luka was sitting on, admiring a ring. "Go on." Careful to not hurt me, he gave me a gentle push on my back and shooed me away from the kitchen.
"Ok," I said, sitting down.
Luka's attention was now brought to me. "So, how many rich doctors did you meet?" she asked.
"I don't know," I replied. "I didn't ask. Besides: why should I? I was busy with my own studies and I wasn't worried about the financial side of things."
"Money makes the world go 'round!" was Luka's only reply.
Then I changed the subject to how it was like being a kid again, and that got her into a long speech about how much life was different from before, when she was poor and as a thief.
When she finished, Marvelous called lights out and we went to sleep.
A few days later, Ahim, Gai, Grace, and I were at school during passing period when Marvelous called Grace. Opening her mobirates and holding it out, she said, "What's up, Marvelous?"
"We have an attack," Marvelous said. "We need backup."
"Let's go," I said.
"Amanda, you're still recovering," Marvelous replied. "You stay."
Rolling my eyes, I said, "Fine."
The others could tell that wasn't going to be the case.
"We're on the way," Gai said.
"Just hang in there," Ahim said.
Grace closed her mobirates and we looked at each other.
Abandoning our next class, we ran to the front of the school, showed our ranger keys to the security guards to let us out, and then ran to where Gai tracked the others.
I waited around the corner of the building as Ahim, Grace, and Gai ran to where the others had fallen, but Joe wasn't there. "Trimeer," I whispered, seeing him tower over the others.
"Gokai Change!" Ahim, Grace, and Gai said, morphing and then going to Trimeer. It wasn't long before they were knocked down.
"I'm not taking this," I said, moving out from my spot. "Trimeer!" I called, walking forward. "Leave my friends alone."
"The ranger is here!" Trimeer said. "Trimeer will take her down!"
"The ranger has something for Trimeer," I said, taking out my ranger key. "Not gonna happen." I opened my mobirates. "Gokai Change!"
"Gokaiger!" my mobirates said.
"Stand down!" Marvelous said. "You're already hurt!"
"And let you guys get killed?" I replied. "Marvelous, you may be the captain, but I won't let an injury take me down."
"You have guts," said a voice and a new monster came out. "You haven't seen me before, have you? Well, I'm the leader of Zangyack, Ackdos Gill. My son, Warz Gill, has been unsuccessful with making Earth ours, so I'm here to complete what he started. Prepare to die, pirate."
Trimeer suddenly multiplied, and I used the same technique as on the cruise ship: listen to the one speaking third person.
Hearing that one, I spun on my heel and stabbed at the real Trimeer, knocking it down. "I won't let you trick me with that, especially since I know how to find the real you!" I said, going to strike him for a second time and then kicking him back.
"Behind you!" AkaRed exclaimed.
I spun around and was struck by Ackdos' sword, taking a step back in surprise in pain. "Not a bad shot," I mumbled, going to strike him, but he was too fast for me and I was thrown back into a wall.
"Enough!" called a voice, and I looked up to see Joe.
"Joe!" I cried, getting up.
"Took you long enough," Luka said.
"I had some problems to take care of," Joe said. Looking at Ackdos, he said, "I've not forgotten what torment you've put me through while becoming a soldier in your pathetic army, the pain that I've felt, and the losses that I've suffered through. You will pay, Ackdos Gill!" He ran forward, morphing while running, and went to slash Ackdos. "Amanda, take care of Trimeer!"
"Trimeer will not let the blue pirate take down Trimeer's leader!" Trimeer replied, running in front of Joe before I could do a second attack.
"Follow your orders!" Ackdos commanded.
"Ok!" Trimeer said, spinning around to me. He tried to attack, but I was quicker and took him down.
"Stay back, Amanda!" Joe called, seeing that I was going to help him. "You have no idea how powerful he is! Leave this to me!"
I took a step back next to the others, but I was prepared to help him if needed.
It seemed like a long time where Joe and Ackdos were fighting, but Ackdos suddenly took advantage of a small opening and threw him down.
"Joe!" I cried, going to run to him, but Marvelous caught me from behind and held me back, knowing that I would get myself killed since I wasn't thinking for the moment.
"Now, to finish you off," Ackdos said, his blade beginning to glow.
"No!" we exclaimed, but the attack had already hit Joe and there was an explosion.
"Joe!" I screamed, now desperate to get away from Marvelous' grasp.
As the smoke cleared, we could see that there was no Joe.
Breaking free from Marvelous, I ran forward and went to attack Ackdos, but he simply knocked me back.
"Anger driven to fight won't get you anywhere, girl," Ackdos said. He did the same slash to me and I was forced to unmorph.
Falling to the ground, I started shaking, feeling my old wounds reopen, and new wounds form.
"You look familiar," Ackdos said, walking to me and grabbing the front of my jacket, pulling me to my feet. "Where is it from? Not from your wanted posters: never seen them before. Oh, yes, now I remember."
"Let her go!" Marvelous ordered, going to rush forward, but Ackdos shot a gun and it hit his stomach.
"Marvelous!" I exclaimed, wanting to get free, but failing.
"Now, where was I?" Ackdos said. "Oh, yes, where I remembered you from. You're a traitor, daughter."