Casey, Theo and Gabby arrived at the temple a little before sunrise, awaiting the battle ahead. They finally got to the top of the stairs, making their way into the main courtyard, finding RJ and Dom finishing clearing the wreckage from the main courtyard.
"Where are the students?" Casey asked them.
"Flit took them to a safe place." RJ told them. "We figured it was best not to put them in danger."
"It's probably a good idea." Theo agreed as he pulled his tonfa from a training bag. "We already know they have no respect for other people's wellbeing."
"Are you ready for this Gabby?" Dom asked her, coming to his girlfriend's side and taking her hand, placing his forehead to hers and looking deeply into her eyes. "I wouldn't blame you for being scared."
"I am scared." Gabby replied quietly. "But being scared is no reason not to do what's right."
"Have I told you how much I love you today?" He asked her. Gabby smiled at him warmly.
"Not yet." She responded.
"If we're all quite finished with this little love fest, can we get started?" Sean asked as he and his friends arrived in the main courtyard. "Unless of course your strategy is to make me lose my breakfast and hope we all starve."
RJ grabbed Dom's sleeve to signal him to restrain himself.
"So this is my dance partner?" Tangaroa sneered dismissively, walking over to Gabby and sizing her up. He towered over her, causing her to shrink a little before him, though she suppressed her will to start shaking. She stood with her head up as he paced around her, looking her up and down like a piece of meat and snorted in disgust.
"She is no match for me." He stated, making his way back to his comrades. He stopped by Dom for a second, looking into his eyes. "She's pretty. It's a shame she won't be quite so pretty when I'm finished with her."
"I swear if anything happens to her, you'll repay everything you do to her tenfold." Dom warned him. Tangaroa just laughed and took his place back with his comrades. Sean looked over to Gabby.
"I see we didn't all observe the dress code." He commented, gesturing to her. Gabby felt a little self-conscious at this, looking down over her t-shirt and sweat pants. Not technically being in the order, she didn't actually own any robes.
"Don't listen to them." Theo told her as they made their way out into the courtyard to meet their opponents. "They're just trying to get into your head. You're strong, you know you are."
"You know things are rather crowded here." Sean commented. "I don't remember asking for an audience."
"Dom, it's time we left." RJ responded, making to leave. Casey grabbed his sleeve.
"RJ, when we left this morning Susan wasn't in the apartment." He told him. He couldn't tell RJ his suspicions in case the others took this as them cheating on their side of the agreement, but RJ didn't need him to explain. Susan wouldn't have gone to work when this was going on. If she left at all, there was only one thing she would be going for. She was looking for Jarrod. It was only then that he realised he hadn't seen her since Sean, Tangaroa and Grace had left JKP.
"She'll be fine." He assured Casey as they left. "Good luck."
As they got to the bottom of the stairs, RJ grabbed Dom and turned to face him.
"I think Susan's found out where Jarrod is." He stated, flicking a thumb over his shoulder. "Go to JKP and use the computer to find out where she went. I'm going to get some help."
"What are you talking about?" Dom asked him. "We have to let them fight the duel according to the rules..."
"Even if Casey, Theo and Gabby win, there's no reason for the others to give up." RJ told him. "It's not like we can get them sent to jail, they'll expose us out of spite. We need a backup plan."
"I take it you have one?" Dom asked him, getting a little grin on his face. He knew that when RJ had something in mind, things tended to fall into place a lot more smoothly.
"Leave that to me. You just find Susan." He told him as he ran off. Dom turned in the opposite direction to head towards the restaurant. Despite his worry over Gabby, he had to feel better. At least now he felt like he had something constructive to do.
Meanwhile in the cave, Susan was thrown hard against the cavern wall by a power blast. She hauled herself back to her feet, rounding on the rinshi opposing her. She cast a glance over to her gun. It was only about 12 feet away, but with the bounding warriors between her and it, it may as well have been 12 miles. One of them thrust a lance towards her, which she dodged, before grabbing it and ripping it from his grasp.
As the next attack came, she blocked it, before bringing the blade slicing through the creature, destroying it. She pulled herself clear of her opponents, sizing up her position. She was near the entrance to the cave, and her gun was still quite some distance away. She could easily escape, but one glance over to Jarrod, struggling to free himself from his manacles convinced her that she couldn't possibly leave.
Gripping the lance tighter, she surged to the attack, dashing her opponents this way and that. Dai Shi laughed as she arrived beside him.
"You're doing well." He complimented her. "You've already destroyed three of my warriors. Of course you'll be no match for me."
"That's why I don't intend to fight you." She snarled, taking down another of the rinshi in a shower of sparks. "I'm getting Jarrod back."
"I grow stronger with fear." He reminded her. "You will strengthen me enough to take control of this worthless fool completely."
"Sorry, but you'll get no such strength from me." She snapped as she leapt back to the attack. "I'll never fear Jarrod!"
Lily and Camille were in the apartment watching the action unfolding on the screen. Lily flinched as she saw Gabby taking another hard hit and flying across the courtyard. Camille held her.
"I shouldn't have let her take my place!" Lily shrieked, watching the scene in horror. "She's getting hurt because of me!"
"Lily, she's fine, she's getting up, look." Camille told her, gesturing back to the screen. Gabby was not by any means having an easy time with her opponent. He clearly outmatched her, and it was only her determination not to fail her friends that kept her in the fight. "She's holding out, and the others are doing well with their own opponents. Look, Theo's got Grace on the ropes."
"What am I going to say to Master Phant?" Lily rushed out, focusing her attention on Gabby once more. "He'll never speak to me again if anything happens to her! I'll never forgive myself if..."
"Lily, she took on this fight knowing the risks." Camille reminded her. "You didn't make her do it, she volunteered."
Camille held her more closely as Lily continued to track the action, unable to tear herself from the screen for a second. "You know how close you and Master Phant are. He'd never have allowed you to take this on. You know that."
Dom ran into the restaurant, short of breath from his run from the temple. He made his way quickly over to the computer and began tapping away on the keyboard.
"Dom, what are you doing?" Camille asked him.
"RJ thinks Susan followed Sean and his friends last night." He rushed out, pulling up a tap into the cell phone network. "We're trying to find her; we think she knows where Jarrod is."
He cursed loudly as the GPS tracking chip in her phone appeared to be blocked. He slammed a hand down on the console.
"I can't reach her!" He yelled. "Something's jamming the signal!"
"Try back-tracking to the last located signal of her." Lily suggested, coming over to him. She could hardly bear to see Gabby taking the beating she felt was rightly hers, and was somewhat thankful for a reason to tear herself from the screen. "Where was the last place her phone had a signal?"
"Her signal cut out about 9PM last night." He responded. He pulled up a satellite image of the area, locating it. "She was in the woods, a couple of miles east of here."
"There's an old iron mine out there." Camille told him. "They used to use it years ago."
"If there's still iron in the rock, that would block the signal." Lily concluded.
"I guess that's where I'm going to start looking." He told them, printing out the coordinates. "I'm going after her. Call me if anything changes."
He rushed from the restaurant almost as quickly as he arrived. Camille watched him go with more than a little trepidation.
"You don't really think she went after them alone do you?" She asked Lily. The heavily pregnant Yellow Ranger just looked at her a little unconvinced.
"Would you do anything different if it was Casey?" She asked.
Back at the cave, Susan was still struggling with her opponents. She was now down to the last half-dozen or so, but their numbers and her exhaustion were beginning to tell on her. She struggled as two of them grabbed her, holding her in place, while another kicked her hard in the chest, sending her crashing to the ground some distance away.
She scrambled around on the floor, before finding her gun next to her hand. Snatching it up, she chambered the first round. Her left eye was almost swollen shut, and she struggled to see properly, but she knew she would only get one shot.
"That will do you no good against my rinshi." Dai Shi taunted her. "You will fall to their blades before this day is out."
"I don't expect this to help me." She responded, taking aim. "But I do need help."
She squeezed the trigger, firing off a round. She smiled as she saw Jarrod slumping to the floor, the chains securing him to the wall falling broken by his sides.
"Jarrod, I need your help!" She screamed at him, returning to her opponents. "I can't do this by myself, you have to help me!"
He ran his hands through his hair, screaming as he fought for control of his mind. He looked up, tears running down his face in time to see Susan being knocked roughly to the ground. Roaring loudly, he surged forward, smashing the last of the rinshi into oblivion. He sank to his knees beside her, cradling her gently.
"Susan, speak to me." He begged her, looking over her body. "Please, say something."
"You helped me." She whispered gently, pulling herself onto her knees and throwing her arms around him. "You fought for me."
"I'll always fight for you." He replied, cupping her cheek with his hand, looking deeply into her eyes. "I should never have walked out..."
"I never should have let you go." Susan responded, reaching behind his head. She pulled him in, kissing him passionately. "I love you."
Jarrod held his head, screaming as he collapsed to the floor. He fought with every inch of his being to remain in control. Susan grabbed him, looking deeply into his eyes.
"Jarrod, what can I do?" She screamed at him. "Let me help you. What's happening? How can I help?"
"The claw." He grunted as he struggled. "My shoulder...the claw..."
Susan looked at the wound in his shoulder and realised what he meant. She reached into her boot, pulling out a pen-knife and flicking it open. She looked into his eyes, her tears beginning to fall as her heart froze.
"Jarrod, I'm going to have to hurt you." She warned him. "Please, hold still."
Jarrod fought with every ounce of strength he had left to retain control. He felt his hands reaching to stop her, but knew that this was the only way. He gritted his teeth and held himself fast. Susan plunged the blade deep into his wound, causing him to scream out in agony.
"Jarrod, I'm sorry, I need to get this out!" She yelled at him. "Please, it won't be much longer!"
Jarrod felt every twitch, every movement the knife made within his body. Susan dug around until she found something solid. Getting as much purchase as she could, she began pulling it to the surface.
"Jarrod, please stay with me!" She implored him tearfully as she finally worked the claw to the surface. Tossing the knife aside, she grabbed it and ripped it from his body, throwing it away as hard as she could.
"I can see your sister's the medically minded one." He joked weakly as he slumped weakly to the floor. "Don't become a surgeon."
"I'm glad to see this hasn't affected your sense of humour." She sniggered as she wiped away a few tears. "We really should be going."
Dom arrived in the cave, finding them on the floor together, Jarrod bleeding heavily from a horrendous wound in his chest.
"What the hell happened here?" He asked.
"Dom, give me your shirt, we have to stop the bleeding." She implored him. "We need to get Jarrod to a hospital."
Dom bound his chest as well as he could, before helping his brother to his feet. Jarrod hung limply by his side.
"The claw." He said weakly. "Get the claw."
"Jarrod, we need to get you out of here." She reminded him. "You need a hospital."
"We can't leave it here." He stated. "We can't take the risk they'll come back for it, or that someone will find it by accident. We need to take it with us."
Reluctantly, Susan pulled off her jacket and wrapped the claw up tightly in it, before returning to Jarrod's side. She and Dom began helping him from the cave.
"I thought we were on a break." He whispered weakly.
"Actually I was kind of rethinking that." Susan told him, an expression of relief crossing her face. "We'll talk more about it later."
"So does this make you my girl again?" He asked. Susan looked into his eyes and smiled.
"I always was." She responded. I just took a while to realise that."
Back at the temple, Theo unleashed his Jaguar spirit, taking Grace down after a ferocious battle. Seeing her collapse to the stone unconscious, he looked around to see how the others were faring. Casey and Sean were taking each other to the limit in one corner, while a little way from him, Gabby was dashed to the floor as Tangaroa kicked her hard in the face. Seeing the state of his robes and the injuries, Theo knew that Gabby had done well against him. He had underestimated the young student, and had paid a hefty price. He picked up one of his butterfly knives menacingly, approaching her fallen body. Gabby looked up at him, blood streaming down her face from injuries to her brow and her nose.
"You did well little girl." He taunted her as he raised his blade. "Some of those attacks actually hurt. But now it's time to end this. Say goodnight."
Theo blindsided him with a hard blow to the head, scattering him.
Gabby took the opportunity when he was off-balance to summon all of the strength in her animal spirit, casting forth the hummingbird. It streaked into the massive Maoris' face with incredible speed, almost causing him to turn a full back flip, before coming to rest, face-down on the concrete, unmoving. Theo helped her back to her feet with a big grin on his face.
"You did great Gabby!" He congratulated her as he helped her stand.
"I needed you to save me." She reminded him. "If you hadn't staggered him..."
"You did the most important thing. You kept him under control. Casey and I would never have been able to take them three-on-two. You showed guts to keep getting up."
As they spoke Casey cast Sean to the ground with such ferocity that the slab beneath him splintered and cracked. He floundered on the ground, attempting to get back up, but fell back to the ground. He was defeated.
"I guess you got the better of us." Sean sneered as he was pulled back to his feet roughly by Casey.
"You know what we want Sean!" Casey snarled, grabbing him by the lapels, glaring straight into his bloody face. "Where's Jarrod?"
"Jarrod?" He asked in a mocking laugh. "By now Jarrod will be gone. Dai Shi will be reborn."
"Dai Shi was destroyed!" Theo called out, helping Gabby to come over to him. "We were there, we saw it!"
"Not all of him." Sean replied abruptly. "One of his claws was left, and we've used that to bring him back in his original vessel. As much as we wanted this rematch, you aren't arrogant enough to believe that's what we meant when we said we wanted a chance to claim the glory for ourselves?"
"You're insane!" Casey snapped, shoving him to his knees. "You're bringing back Dai Shi just to get the bragging rights for destroying him?"
"He tried." Dom announced as he returned with RJ. Arriving shortly behind them were Chip, Xander and Daggeron. "Susan found him and stopped it from happening."
He threw the claw onto the ground for Sean to see. He screamed in frustration as he realised his plan had failed.
"We'll still get to take you down!" Sean snapped as Grace and Tangaroa began to come to. RJ and Dom brought them over beside their comrade. "What are you going to do, kill us? If you don't you know we'll only come back! And if you try to send us to prison, we'll take all of you with us."
"Not if you don't remember it." Xander chipped in as he pulled out his wand. "RJ figured you wouldn't accept defeat graciously, that's why he called us."
"What are you going to do to us?" Grace asked as she looked at the strangers suspiciously. "Call our mommies?"
"No, we're going to work a memory charm on the three of you." Chip explained. "When you wake up in hospital, you'll think you've been involved in a car accident, and have forgotten all about this grudge you're holding."
Daggeron led the chant as all three of the former Mystic Rangers modified the memories of the three Pai Zhuq students. Following their ritual, all three collapsed and slipped into a deep slumber.
"Are they going to be alright?" Theo asked him.
"They're just unconscious." Daggeron explained. "We'll have taken them to hospital and have everything straightened out before they wake up."
"And they won't remember anything?" Casey asked him.
"They shouldn't. Your sister doesn't remember that speeding ticket she was going to give Xander." Chip told them.
"You worked a spell on my sister to get out of a speeding ticket?" Casey asked them. Xander just shrugged.
"Well maybe we should continue this elsewhere." RJ suggested. "If nothing else we're going to have to come up with a cover for Gabby. If we send her back to her parents looking like that, there's going to be a lot of questions."
Later in the hospital, Susan came into the room, finding Jarrod with his shoulder heavily taped up, and his arm in a sling. He looked up at her as she came into the room.
"We keep ending up here." She commented. "Maybe we need to find some new hobbies."
"That would be an idea." He replied. "I'm sorry you had to see that. I never wanted Dai Shi to come back..."
"He didn't." Susan reminded him. "You fought him until I could get the claw out. RJ said he and the Masters are going to deal with the claw to make sure no one finds it."
"Susan, you said you were with me." Jarrod replied. "Is that really how you feel?"
"Casey talked some sense into me." She replied, sweeping some hair out of her face and taking a seat next to the bed. "He made me realise how I really felt."
"What about all that stuff we were arguing about?" He asked her. "Are you saying you're giving up your job for me?"
"No." She replied, looking into his eyes. "I gave up my job for me."
He let out a heavy sigh and slumped into the pillows.
"I never asked you to do that." He stated dejectedly. "I don't want you to feel like..."
"Jarrod, I wanted to resign." She interrupted him. "Casey made me realise that the job didn't make me happy. I've been using it to hide from how I felt about losing dad. It was never going to make me happy. You're the only thing that has. I didn't leave the job because I felt like I had to. I left because I wanted to."
She pulled in close to him, kissing him deeply, before parting, smiling warmly at him. "I love you Jarrod."
"I love you too." He replied. "So how did Commissioner Harris take it?"
"He was disappointed, but he'll get over it." She replied. "Mom was a little surprised, but she said she trusts my decision."
"So what are you going to do now?" He asked her. "Now that you're out of a job?"
"I was thinking of retail." She told him. "Xander said he'd take me on at the Rock Porium. Chip and Daggeron are going home soon; he's hoping to follow them in a month or so."
"Well as long as you're sure." Jarrod told her. "I wouldn't want you to..."
"I'm sure Jarrod." She interrupted her abruptly. "I want to make this work with you."
"I'm glad that you do." He replied, grinning from ear to ear. He couldn't have believed he'd be that fortunate. "I love you."
Meanwhile at JKP, Gabby was in the bathroom, looking in horror at her extensive collection of cuts and bruises. He pressed her bruised cheek, wincing a little. Dom coughed to let her know he was there.
"You managed to avoid breaking your nose." He said reassuringly. "That's one thing at least."
"Dom, I look like I went 12 rounds with Lennox Lewis." She complained, checking the mirror. "My parents are going to freak!"
"It's just as well it's the weekend." He told her, putting a printed sheet down on the sink. Gabby looked at it, reading it in confusion.
"What's this?" She asked.
"The others all chipped in." He told her comfortingly. "We figured you deserved a treat, and we thought that a weekend away at a nice resort would also give the worst of your bruises a chance to heal."
"Dom, this must have cost a fortune!" She shrieked.
"Like I said, we all chipped in. We figured you deserved a treat." Dom replied. "By the time you get back, Lily will show you a few tips she learned with make-up and your parents should be none the wiser. You really came through for us. You deserve it."
Gabby sighed and slumped down onto the toilet seat. She looked at him a little sadly.
"Valentine's Day's this weekend." She said sadly. "I really wanted to do something with you this weekend."
"I really did too." Dom assured her, pulling another reservation out of his pocket. "I guess it's just as well I'm going too."
Gabby threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him repeatedly. Dom finally managed to restrain her, laughing a little at the reaction.
"I take it you like the idea then?" He asked her.
"I love it!" She screeched, looking over the printout again. "I love you!"
"I love you too." He replied, gesturing to the door, where she saw her bag already packed. "So, shall we go?"
