Chapter 2
A/N: I'm sorry if I make people a bit OOC but I'll do my best to keep them in character.
Fury stalked his way through one of the halls of Sledge's ship to deliver news to his commander about a new Energem he recently discovered. "Watch where you're going, you klutz!" he bellowed as a nearby Vivix bumped into him and fell on its butt. He scoffed and continued to the control room.
Inside the control room Sledge sat thinking up another scheme to nab the Rangers' Energems while Poisandra, Curio, Wrench, a few Vivix and some new monster named Prisma(due to the rainbow colors decorating her body and a large swirling prism hanging around her neck) milled about the room. The mechanical doors opened with a hiss as Fury walked in. "Master Sledge! I have good news."
"Oh really? Is it good news of your repeated screw ups?" Poisandra quipped, sarcasm lacing her voice as she put her hands on her hips. Fury let out an annoyed growl as he knew she was trying to get under his skin and piss him off just to give herself a few laughs. Fury decided not to give her the time of day and ignored Poisandra, instead he kept his gaze fixed on Sledge.
"I have detected the presence of another Energem that was located outside of Amber Beach, but has made its way there."
"Another Energem you say?" Wrench curiously inquired to the lion like warrior. "It must be unbonded like the Graphite Energem was before those pesky, goody two shoes Rangers got in the way."
"Yes," Fury nodded to the mechanical general.
Curio jumped up and down with glee along with Poisandra, "Oh boy, another Energem to nab!"
"Well, what are you waiting for?!" the bounty hunter roared. "Go down to Earth and find it! And take Prisma with you while you're at it. Make sure the Rangers don't get to that Energem first or you'll be scrubbing this entire ship from top to bottom and it better be spotless."
"Yes, Master Sledge," Fury replied and proceeded to walk out of the room with Prisma following close behind.
A/N: This is my first plan on how Fury and Prisma will try to steal the Energems and it might suck so please bear with me.
He then turned to Prisma, "Alright, here's the plan, Prisma: You will disguise yourself and lure the Rangers into giving us the Energems with your hypnotizing powers."
The rainbow alien gave a bow then spoke in a German accent as she swung her pyramid shaped crystal prism from side to side, "Of course, Sledge it shall be done. Zhe Rangers vill never know vhat hit zhem until it is too late." A collective cackle rang through the air as the two departed the ship.
*Meanwhile in a different location on Earth*
At the Dino Bite Café, Chase was at the grill while Shelby, Koda and Ivan were at the counter as Tyler and Riley were taking orders. He took one half of the room full of customers while Riley had the other. The next two customers that walked in were female. One had red hair that was graying a bit, while the other had black hair who kept her head down as she were ashamed of something.
Tyler strolled over to them soon after they sat down to take their orders when he noticed the black haired girl had her menu up as if hiding from the world. "Are you ready to order?" he asked them.
"Alix, dear, this young man here wants to know if you ordered or not?" Beatrice lightly tapped her arm.
Alix slightly peeked her head up from behind the menu to see who approached their table. As soon as she caught a glimpse of the Red Ranger, she immediately ducked her head back down like a turtle retreating into its shell. "A Bronto Burger with meat and cheese only with some water please," the shy girl spoke up.
This caught Tyler's attention as he wanted to know why Alix was so shy but didn't voice it. Instead he turn to the notepad in his hand and started writing. "A Bronto Burger with just meat and cheese with a glass of water." He turned to Beatrice, "Anything you want, Ma'am?"
"I'd like a Bronto Burger with everything on it and a glass of tea." She then apologized to him, "Forgive my granddaughter Alix, she is extremely shy and doesn't know how to communicate well with people other than her family. Alix has been bullied so much, that she's afraid of making friends because of that."
Tyler nodded at the woman's explanation. After writing down Beatrice's order, he went back to the counter and relayed what the women wanted. Riley had come up as well having finished waiting tables with the Red Ranger.
As soon as he received the tray of food and drinks, Tyler brought the ladies their meal. Alix had her menu down this time so she could eat and Tyler noticed she had the most beautiful pair of blue eyes he had ever seen. There was something about her pendant that caught his eye though.
The crystal on her necklace looked like his Energem as well of the others' but it was brown. The Red Ranger wondered assuming if it was an Energem, had bonded to her or not but didn't vocally question it yet. "That's a nice necklace," he commented. "Where'd you get it?"
Alix, having been caught off guard by the question began getting nervous and shrank in her seat as if she wanted to hide from him. "Um...well-"
"It's alright, dear he won't bite," Beatrice assured her. She looked over to her grandmother and slowly nodded almost as if she didn't move her head at all.
"My grandpa gave it to me on my birthday as an heirloom. He found it in a fossil on a trip in Kazakhstan years ago."
"Do you know what fossil it was in?"
"I think it came from an aralosaurus fossil if I remember correctly." Not wanting to talk anymore, the ravenette dug into her food to avoid conversing more as Tyler nodded in understanding.
"I see. Well if you two need anything else don't be afraid to ask me or my friends ok?"
She nodded slowly again as he proceeded to walk off but not before stealing a tiny glance at his name tag.
"See, Alix, that wasn't so bad," the redhead smiled at her. "If you keep this up, you'll come out of your shell and make friends eventually."
Alix timidly blushed as she chewed her lunch then swallowed. It occured to the 17-year-old that she never took the time to strike up a conversation with others due to her fear. Somehow talking with Tyler those brief moments with Beatrice by her side gave her a bit of a confidence boost, but not enough to raise her self esteem.
Meanwhile at the counter, Tyler had walked back and switched shifts with Shelby but not before telling them what he heard in a hushed voice. "Guys, I think I found another Energem."
Koda's ears perked up as well as his teammates' then whispered, "Where Energem and what color?"
"One of the customers named Alix has it hanging around her neck but it's brown," the Red Ranger replied.
"And how pray tell did you get this information, Sir Tyler?" Ivan curiously asked him.
"She told me her grandpa found it in a dinosaur fossil on a trip in Kazakhstan and gave it to her on her birthday."
"Do you know what fossil it was?" Riley inquired.
"Alix said it came from an aralosaurus fossil."
Chase, who happened to switch with Koda heard the conversation as well whispered in, "Has it bonded to her yet, mate?"
Tyler shook his head at the Black Ranger, "I don't think it has but there's one way to find out."
"We wait if one of Sledge's lackeys and/or Fury shows up," Shelby commented as everyone else nodded then went back to work while keeping a close eye on Alix.
Back at Alix and Beatrice's table, the two were finishing up their meal when Riley showed up asking if they needed refills. He immediately recognized them a few seconds later.
"Hi, Mrs. Landerfield," he greeted.
"Hello there, Riley," the redheaded woman said casually then turned to Alix. "Alix, you remember Riley right? He showed up to the bake sales those times you came by and visited."
Alix began to tense up again as soon as she locked eyes with him and quickly broke contact. "Um, I think so," she softly replied.
Riley let out chuckle, "Still shy as ever I see but other than that, I was wondering if you two need refills or something else to drink."
"Yes we do and while you're at it, may we have some containers to go please?"
"Sure one sec," he told them as he gathered their cups. A few minutes later, the Green Ranger returned with the ladies' newly filled glasses and some containers to hold the remainder of their food. The Green Ranger then turned to the ravenette and asked her a question.
"Hey, Alix do you wanna hang out with us after work? You look like you might need some friends."
She bit her lip and inwardly flinched at the mention of the word friends. Alix was afraid and wanted to turn him down in fear of being picked on. Her ears perked up when Riley began to speak again as if reading the young woman's mind.
"Don't worry, we won't bully or pick on you. I know you been through a lot over time and haven't strayed too far from your family from what your grandma tells me."
Alix looked over to her grandmother who coyly shrugged at the teen.
"Grandma..."
"This could be good opportunity to be around others your age, dear. The turtle will have to come out of her shell soon one of these days."
The ravenette turned her head back to the Green Ranger and spoke her answer. "I don't know but I'll think about it."
He nodded and strolled away as he needed to get back to work lest Kendall catches and berates him for slacking off. The redhead grinned at Alix again as the 17-year-old sipped her water through the clear straw protruding out of the glass.
'Alix is off to a slow but good start. I hope she continues making progress at this,' Beatrice smiled inwardly to herself.
Having stuffed their bellies up with food, the women packed the remaining leftovers, left the table soon after Beatrice put some money on it and departed the café to the car and drove home.