Hello lovelies. I can't believe that I only have maybe one or two more chapters before I can continue on with the story. It feels like I have been working on the rewrite to these chapters forever. However, I have to say that I am happier with the rewrite and I hope you guys like the revised version too. I don't have much to say here so I will get on with the quote and the story.
Edited: 4/20/21-5/31/21
"There are no words to express the abyss between isolation and having one ally. It may be conceded to the mathematician that four is twice two. But two is not twice one; two is two thousand times one."
-G.K. Chesterton
ooo0 Ninja of the Stars 0ooo
The next morning, Belle rose at her usual early hour to go for a workout around town. While she was running laps, she was able to sense someone watching her. Her guard rose up at the feeling and she was tense all through her sit ups and chin ups as she waited for one of Lothor's kelzaks or monsters to attack her. What the fuck is up with this, she hissed to herself. The point of working out is to relax me and train, not to knot my muscles up like a pretzel. Why am I even being so tense, Belle asked herself. I can protect myself if the need arose. That seemed to calm Belle down some until she was able to push the incident from her mind even if she was a little bit more alert about her surroundings. She went through the last of her workout routine then tree traveled back to Ninja Ops when she was sure that the coast was clear. This morning, Belle decided to take a shower before making breakfast then dressed in her leotard, tights, and pointe shoes to practice ballet. For extra measure, she put all of her hair up into a secure bun. Once she deemed her outfit ready, she ventured into the kitchen to make waffles, eggs, and bacon.
"Good morning Ron," Belle greeted the groggy man who all but slumped into his chair.
"Morning Anna," he returned, gratefully taking the ready made cup of coffee that was offered to him.
After a few sips of coffee he was able to wake up enough to see exactly what Belle was wearing. While he was used to Belle's fashionable outfits, he had never seen her in this one before.
"Well, I've been meaning to start practicing ballet again and my friends from back home bought me all I would need to start again."
"Are you going to the dance studio?"
Belle gave a flinch at the mention of the dance studio that her and Hunter had gone to learn the tango. While the place would have been the ideal place to practice with all of the mirrors on the wall plus the bar, but Belle couldn't bring herself to go.
"No, I think I'll just stay here."
Cam gave her an understanding look but said nothing else. He really couldn't blame her for that. When breakfast was over and the dishes were taken care of, Belle and Cam went to the computer room to work. Belle went through the day's worth of homework while Cam worked on the data for the zords and tsunami cycles then taught more coding to Belle. Cam had to admit, Belle was making remarkable headway with coding. He wouldn't be surprised if Belle was able to actively help him during a fight or a computer malfunction soon. After her coding lesson, Belle moved over to the side of the command center that had a good chunk of empty space then proceeded to go through her stretches. She started with some quadricep stretches then moved onto hamstring stretches, calf stretches, and foot stretches. She then moved onto easing herself down into a split where she bent forward to stretch across her front leg then moved so that she did a split facing forward to do right, left, and center split stretch. The next stretch was a series of splits laying flat on her back that ended with some lunges. Belle was then ready to move on to warm up so she conjured a barre along the wall to help her next exercises. Her first move was grande plié that Belle flowed through like she had springs in her legs. Then came tendu exercises, battement degage, and ron de jambe. That marked Belle's barre work as done, so she moved away from the barre to do some exercises that didn't require it. Now was the time that Belle was freestyling in her moves so that she danced about the room. Cam couldn't help but watch Belle out of the corner of his eye as he coded with a smile. Belle practiced for a good hour or two more before the other rangers came in in their ranger uniforms.
"Hey guys," Belle greeted them as she finished her last pirouette.
"I didn't know that you did ballet," Tori commented while watching the younger ranger.
"I haven't in a while," Belle told her. "I literally just picked it back up."
"What was the news that you had to tell us Tori," Shane prompted the blonde ranger.
At the mention of news, Cam paused his coding to turn his attention to the rangers.
"Blake and Hunter are back in town," Tori announced that had Belle sucking in a quick breath.
She would have fallen too if she wouldn't have caught herself. While she was a little happy that the Thunder brothers were back in town, she was also very anxious about meeting Hunter again.
"Where did you see them?" Cam voiced to keep the information coming.
"I saw Blake when I went for a ride on Dustin's bike-,"
"Which you brutally totaled," he pointed out.
"Anyway," Tori continued. "He said that they have a way onto Lothor's ship. Choobo is supposed to get them aboard."
"I don't buy it," Shane sighed while shaking his head. "Why would Choobo just all of a sudden decide to turn good."
"I must agree with Shane," Sensei Watanabe said, oblivious to the way Belle's face and eyes seemed to lose focus on what was in front of her. In her mind's eye, she saw flashes of the Thunder brothers getting onto Lothor's ship, but then being ambushed.
"It's a trap," Belle realized in a soft whisper to herself.
When her sight of her surroundings was regained, she turned to Tori.
"Are they going alone?"
"Yeah," Tori answered. "They said they were going to check it out. Even if they get in the ship, they won't attack until they can bring us in for backup."
"Those idiots," Belle sighed in frustration. "It's a trap for them."
"How do you know?" Shane ventured with a raised eyebrow.
"On my birthday, my prophetic abilities got stronger and now I have prophetic visions randomly. I saw them get captured."
"So, what do we do now?" Shane questioned, his eyes boring into the younger kunoichi.
"I don't know," Belle admitted. "That was as much as my vision showed me."
"Well, I guess that gives us time," Dustin commented.
"Time for what?" Tori asked.
"For you to fix my bike, Miss. Freestyle no-hand landing."
Cam and Shane laughed at the situation, but Belle couldn't find it in herself to actually find any humor after the conversation that had just happened.
"It wasn't that bad," Tori defended herself. "I just took a little spill."
"The fender's facing backwards," Dustin pointed out.
"All right," Tori huffed.
The three Wind rangers then left Ninja Opos seeing as though there was nothing that could be done at this moment in time. Belle, on the other hand, was trying to trigger a vision so that she could see what would happen to the Thunder brothers. She had to see if they would be alive or dead. However, after about five minutes of trying, Belle was only working her way towards a bad headache. Cam had thought nothing of Belle sitting in silence until he saw her start to rub her temples more and more and her headache started to appear.
"Hey," he said, reaching forward to push her hands away from her temples so that he could soothe the spots himself.
"What's going on?"
"I'm trying to see past my vision," Belle grumbled. "I need to know what happens."
"If you can't get anything, it would be best to take it easy," Cam advised softly while he still massaged her temples.
"Forcing yourself is only gonna give you a headache."
"But-,"
"No buts," Cam argued, moving his hands so he cupped her face.
"There is nothing that you can do right now, so you should rest until we have a lead."
Belle wanted to argue, but she found that the urge to faded away when she saw how Cam was worrying about her.
"Alright," she relented.
"Good."
When one of Belle's hands reached up to cup one of Cam's hands that she leaned into, Cam flushed very faintly after realizing what he was doing. Very carefully he drew his hands away and turned back to his computer.
"I should keep an eye on the city in case something pops up."
Confused at Cam's sudden attitude change, Belle stood up and walked towards the doorway that would take her towards the living area. What is up with him, Belle thought to herself before she went to her room to change.
ooo0ooo
Later that day, after Belle had dressed in street clothes, found Dustin and Belle at Storm Chargers where Hunter and Blake were talking with someone from Factory Blue. As soon as Belle had seen Hunter, she was unsure if she wanted to run over and hug him or if she wanted to march over there and punch him in the face. However, she grew a little worried when she was able to see a faint dark aura around the Thunder brothers that spoke of a dark influence on them. Belle's mind was quick to fly back to the vision that she had earlier in the day. Could this be the result of them getting captured, Belle thought to herself as she kept a distance between herself and the Thunder brothers. Dustin, seemingly oblivious to the aura, strode forward to talk with them.
"So, what, did you guys sign?" Dustin asked the two Thunder Rangers.
"Factory Blue, that's crazy."
"We'll catch you later," Hunter told Dustin without even looking at Belle on his way past them.
"Hey, you guys want to hang?" Dustin offered before they could leave.
"We just got those new rubber-stop triple clamps in."
"We'll pass," Blake said.
"I'd be careful about them," Belle warned Dustin after the two were out of earshot.
"They have a dark aura around them and I don't like it. They could have a negative influence on them. We should probably tell the others."
"Or they're just jerks," Shane argued with a cross of his arms when Dustin and Belle made it back to Ninja Ops.
"You don't understand," Belle tried to reason with the red ranger.
"It's not part of their aura, it's something that is sitting over them like a blanket. It's different."
While the rangers thought over Belle's words, a new threat was being detected through the surveillance system.
"Looks like someone got up on the wrong side of the bed," Cam commented.
"Where does Lothor get these losers?" Shane scoffed when he saw a close up of the new villain.
The rangers gave each other a nod as they stepped back to morph.
"Ninja Storm!"
"Cosmic Storm!"
"Ranger Form!"
In record time the four rangers showed up at the construction site where they last spotted the new monster. The Wind Rangers had their swords at the ready while Belle had her fans poised for attack.
"Huh?" Shane questioned when they didn't see their opponent. "I don't see anything."
"Looks can be deceiving," Belle told him.
"I hate to bring it up," Tori said. "But this is always how it starts."
They spun to attack when smoke started to cover the ground.
"Major smog alert!" Dustin exclaimed while turning to try to find the monster. Before the rangers could spot him, he lashed out across all of their chests.
"I rest my case," Tori groaned.
"Well, if it isn't the world famous power rangers," the monster rasped.
"You know, you look taller on TV."
"Anyone ever tell you that you look uglier in person?" Dustin shot back.
"What is this?" Tori asked. "Attack of the giant snail?"
The Wind Rangers got into position to fight the enemy, but something else made the hair on the back of Belle's neck stand on end. What the hell, she asked herself while her eyes scanned her surroundings from behind her dark visor. Where could another threat be coming from? In a split second, unconscious decision Belle made a barrier appear in front of herself and her fellow rangers that stopped a lightning attack from hitting them. Her eyes widened when she saw both Hunter and Blake morphed and ready for battle. Now the dark aura was even thicker and Belle worried for the safety of the boys.
"Hey, remember us!" Blake called down to the rangers.
"We certainly remember the White Gold Ranger."
"What are you doing?!" Tori shouted back up at them.
"The dark aura has gotten stronger," Belle told her teammates while she released her barrier.
"I don't think they're in control of their actions."
It was then that the Thunder Rangers jumped down to join the fray. How in the hell can I get rid of that aura, Belle panicked slightly. If we have to fight both the Thunder brothers and the monster, we'll be sitting ducks. Now what would be a good spell? Hundreds of different spells ran through Belle's mind until she came upon one that she thought might work. What if it doesn't, Belle argued with herself only to brush the thought off. It's the only option I can think of and I won't know if it works until I try it.
"Guys, I might have a way to get rid of the influence on them," Belle told the other rangers while they stood on alert.
"But I'll need you to distract them."
"Are you sure it's going to work?" Tori questioned, half hoping that it might work.
"Not sure, but it's the only plan I have so far."
"We'll give it a shot," Shane relented when he couldn't come up with a plan himself.
While the Wind Rangers jumped forward to meet the Thunder Rangers head on, Belle jumped back and started reciting a cleansing spell under her breath. Her white gold magic glowed around her hands while they went through the motions.
"Don't let her finish that spell!" Blake shouted to Hunter as they fought.
"On it!"
"Protect Lupa!" Shane ordered Tori and Dustin.
Before any of the other rangers could get close to Belle, she sent the spell at Hunter and Blake who dropped to their knees as soon as the magic wave hit them. Now that the Thunder brothers had been taken care of, Belle realized that the monster needed to be dealt with. Although, they might need someone with Hunter and Blake in case that her magic didn't actually work. Which means I'll have to stay with them.
"I'll stay here and watch them," Belle told the others. "You guys take care of the ugly snail."
"Are you sure?" Dustin asked the younger ranger.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Just go."
In a flash the three Wind Rangers were gone which left Belle with the groaning Thunder rangers. Belle kept her guard up in case they got up to attack again, but she did not expect the rogue lighting that would have hit her had she not teleported away. Damn it, she cursed from the roof of a nearby building as she watched them call for their zords.
"Bushi, I'll need my zord too," Belle said into her comms.
"On the way Lupa."
By the time Belle was in her zord and had sifted it into her megazord, the Thunder Rangers had done the same.
"Guys, it's back," Belle told her fellow rangers.
"The dark aura is back and stronger than ever. We'll have to get them somewhere where Lother can't see to get them free."
"Well how do you suppose we do that?!" Shane shouted through the comms as the Wind Rangers stopped the Thunder Rangers' blade with their own.
"I don't know."
Anything else that the rangers wanted to say was interrupted by the shell of the fallen monster rising and exploding. The shockwave of the blast was enough to teleport all of the rangers to a deserted island.
When the rangers came to, they found themselves on a beach. Belle was the first one awake, albeit a little groggy and out of it. However, as soon as she saw the other unconscious rangers, her senses were stable enough to where she could rush to their sides.
"Shane! Tori! Dustin! Are you guys alright?!"
To run a quick diagnostic, Belle let her white gold magic envelop them like a blanket. When it came back negative for any serious injuries, Belle pulled her magic back with a sigh.
"Not so loud Shorty," Dustin groaned as he came to.
"If I wasn't so loud, you wouldn't have woken up," Belle tried to joke while she helped the rangers to their feet.
"Thanks Anna," Tori tried her best to smile at her fellow kunoichi.
"I don't think we'll be able to contact Ron or Sensei," Belle sighed once the rangers were up and coherent.
"I can feel the thick electrical barrier surrounding the island."
"What happened?" Dustin asked.
"I think it had something to do with the snail monster you guys fought," Belle mused while she wracked her mind.
"The shell rose, exploded, and here we are."
"So you said the influence on Hunter and Blake came back?" Shane questioned.
"Yeah, but this might be the chance to get them back," Belle said excitedly.
"If Ron can't reach us here, then maybe Lothor can't see them here either."
"You could be on to something," Tori admitted, not getting excited about the prospect.
She wouldn't get her hopes up again only to have them dashed when the plan failed again.
"Now we just have to find them and hope I have enough energy for another blast. You guys have no idea how draining that is."
"How about I buy you lunch when we get back to Blue Bay?" Tori suggested with a laugh and an arm around Belle's shoulders.
The rangers then walked farther along the beach as they tried to find both a way off the island and the Thunder brothers. They had just come around the bend of a large cliff when they saw a flash of blue out of the corner of their eyes.
"You guys saw that, right?" Dustin asked the group while pointing where the streak of color was.
"We did," Tori and Belle said in unison.
"Good."
"Over there!" Shane shouted when the flash appeared again.
He was the first to start running, followed closely by Tori, Belle, and Dustin. During their run, Belle had managed to get ahead of the others so that she led the group in their run through the forest that was across from the cliff. After running for a few minutes, Shane came to a stop while he took in his surroundings.
"It came this way," Shane grumbled in frustration. "I saw it."
Belle's eyes widened when she sensed two presences in front of them.
"It's Hunter and Blake guys," Belle told the group. "I'll need you to distract them again."
"Oh no you don't," Blake said as he rushed forward to try to punch Belle in the face.
"Hey, hands off my face," Belle retorted while jumping back out of the way.
The Wind Rangers then broke off with Shane leaving to fight Hunter while Blake squared off with Tori and Dustin. Belle tried to gather her magic like last time, but she had to continuously duck out of the way of an attack. She was ready to send her spell at the two Thunder Rangers, but everyone ninja streaked away leaving her by herself.
"Seriously," Belle groaned in irritation. "That better be a good lunch."
By the time Belle found the others, they were already transformed and fighting. Seeing opportunity in being left behind, Belle stayed out of sight while she let her spell charge just a little bit more. It was all ready to go, until she saw Hunter getting ready to shoot down the three rangers.
"Stop this Hunter!" Belle yelled, jumping in front of her teammates to put up a barrier with her gathered energy. The fired shots ended up hitting Belle's barrier and shooting back at the Thunder brothers.
"Thanks Anna," Shane sighed in relief while he got up to his feet.
While the boys were done, Belle redirected her energy into the cleansing spell that she let out in a wave of magic. The Thunder brothers dropped to their knees when the wave hit them that had all of the Wind Rangers plus Belle on edge. When the brothers looked up, Belle could see that their face plates were pulled back.
"Where are we?" Hunter asked before his eyes found Belle.
"Anna, you're alright."
"Looks like the spell worked," Belle said with an awkward smile now that she was face to face with Hunter.
"Spell?" Blake echoed.
"It seems Lothor brainwashed you when he ambushed you on his ship," Tori explained when she saw how uncomfortable Belle was.
"Anna used a spell on you two to free you," Dustin continued on.
Hunter tried to catch Belle's eye with his, but Belle turned her head to the side. Even if she were to catch his eye through her visor, Belle wasn't sure if she was mentally ready to deal with her feelings about him and their relationship just yet. Hunter never got the chance to get to talk to Belle because Choobo took this time to show up.
"Hey!" he called down to the rangers.
"You down there in the bug suits!"
"He better not be talking to us," Hunter growled.
"Yeah, I'm talkin' to you! I worked too hard for you to mess things up now!"
In a flash of white gold, Belle stood in front of the Thunder Brothers in her ranger suit.
"Well I think these two have gone through enough to be brainwashed again!" Belle countered despite her earlier feelings.
In a large explosion, a powered up version of the monster earlier appeared.
"Did you miss me?" The monster asked as he fired an energy blast at the rangers.
"You wish," Belle snarked, putting up another barrier despite the way her body was sweating profusely and the way her arms shook.
"Anna, are you okay?" Dustin asked the white gold ranger when he saw the way her body was shaking.
I shouldn't rely too much on my magic, Belle thought to herself. But I want to protect my teammates. I should have a few more spells in me before I have to stop, Belle reasoned.
"I'll be fine Leo," Belle waved off. "I just need to catch my breath."
"You've been using too much magic," Shane said when he realized what was happening.
"I want you to focus on your ninja training."
"Okay," Belle relented to the logical reasoning.
"But as soon as the situation goes sideways, I'm using my magic."
Shane didn't argue with her seeing as though she was going to do it anyway.
"What do you want?!" Tori questioned the monster once Belle had sunk into a battle stance.
"I want to sink this island with all of you on it," the monster cackled.
"I want to cause an atmospheric reaction that will drop the temperature to 100 degrees below zero. I want payback."
"That seems like a large list," Belle commented.
When the snail opened fire again, Belle held up her fans and tried her best to deflect the attack but a few shots did graze her. Not a second later, kelzaks started to come onto the scene.
"How'd they get here?" Tori groaned.
"Maybe they got a group rate," Dustin tried to joke.
Belle, on the other hand, did not waste any time engaging the advancing kelzaks. She was doing very well until her depleted magic started affecting her stamina. IF only I had a replenishing potion, Belle thought to herself as she felt a bead of sweat roll down the side of her face. As it is, I don't know how long I can hold out. Just when Belle thought that she couldn't fight anymore, a crimson suit appeared before her to blast the kelzaks away.
"Hunter," Belle uttered in surprise.
"I got your back Lil' Firecracker," he grinned under his helmet.
Belle could say nothing although she did feel grateful for the backup.
"Not so fast!" Choobo protested when he saw the Thunder Rangers helping the others.
"Listen to me Crimson Ranger, your brother has betrayed you, hear me?"
"What kind of drugs does this guy smoke?" Belle deadpanned at Choobo's words.
"That's crazy," Hunter denied outright.
A smirk from Choobo was all the warning that Hunter got before pushing Blake out of the way of a beam.
"Blake, look out!"
"Hunter!" Blake and Belle shouted together.
He screamed in pain until the mysterious red haze settled in his body.
"Are you okay dude?" Blake asked his brother.
"I don't know," Hunter said. "I think so. I feel kinda weird."
Belle's eyes widened when she saw the swirling red energy across his faceplates.
"Hunter," Belle started to say while reaching out for him.
"You can't trust your brother anymore," Choobo repeated. "That pretty blue ranger's convinced him to join up with them."
At the thoughtful noise that Hunter made, Belle grew uneasy.
"What are you babbling?!" Blake demanded. "I'd never turn on my brother! You're the one with the evil plan!"
"Tell him the truth," Choobo continued. "He deserves to know you betrayed him and your poor lost parents."
"Hunter, don't listen to him," Blake pleaded with his brother.
"It's all a bunch of lies! You're trying to destroy us!"
"My own brother," Hunter hissed.
Belle was the only one who saw Hunter getting ready to swing his weapon at Blake, so she was the only one to jump forward to push Blake out of the way. Before Hunter's blade could hit her, Belle unsheathed her own blade and the clang of metal meeting metal rang out.
"Stop this Hunter," she told him while she held his strike at bay.
"You have to fight this. I know you love your brother and you wouldn't want to do anything to hurt him."
"Get out of my way," Hunter seethed, launching into attacks to try to hit Blake behind Belle.
She cursed as she tried to match him blow for blow despite her rapidly depleting strength. Belle had just managed to push Hunter away from her when steam rose up from the ground to hit Hunter full on.
"Hunter, get out of there!" Blake called out to his brother when he was once again screaming in agony.
"What's happening to me?!" Hunter shouted.
When the steam was gone, Hunter sank to his knees while his body shook violently. He only took about a minute to get over the pain before he tried to get up and attack Blake again. Belle knew that they needed time to come up with a plan, so she jumped on Hunter's back to try to buy them time to retreat. To try to keep him from hurting others, Belle put both her arms and legs around his arms to keep them by his sides. Hunter gave a roar of anger at the restriction of his arms and thrashed about to get her off.
"Blake, get over to the others and tell them to retreat," Belle ordered.
"When you guys are gone, I'll meet up with you."
"But-,"
"Just go!" Belle exploded.
Blake gave one more hesitant look over to the young kunoichi, but he quickly ran over to the Wind rangers and they all ninja streaked away. When she was sure that they were gone, Belle jumped off Hunter's back then teleported away. She then ninja streaked until she found the others in a cave.
"Found you," Belle sighed in relief as she staggered her way into the cave, only to fall to a knee with her ranger uniform breaking under the strain.
"Easy there," Blake said as he was the first to run to her side.
"Thanks Blake."
"You're wearing yourself thin Anna," Shane warned her.
"I know Shane," Belle admitted. "But I did manage to get Blake free. I just need to get close to Hunter again and I'll get him free."
"Are you sure you have enough for that?" Dustin asked. "You look really pale Shorty."
"Unless we can find another way, it's the only idea I have," Belle sighed.
"Why are you going so far for my brother?" Blake questioned the galaxy haired girl after helping her sit down.
"You know what this is, right?" Belle asked instead as she held up her right hand that had Hunter's ring on the ring finger.
"That's our mom' engagement ring," Blake breathed out.
"Hunter gave it to me."
"He...he gave it to you?" Blake echoed in surprise.
All Belle did was give a nod. When he saw how tired she was, Dustin held up his arm towards Belle and she took the invitation to nestle into his side and rest her head on his shoulder.
"Get some sleep Shorty."
The rangers gave Belle forty-five minutes of rest before they woke her up.
"You feeling better?" Tori asked her when bleary chocolate brown eyes looked around her.
"A little," Belle yawned into Dustin's chest. "What did I miss?"
"The island we're on is sinking," Shane told her.
"Of course it is," Belle sighed. "That just means we'll have to find Hunter quicker and take care of the enemy. No pressure."
"We should get going then," Tori insisted.
Belle groaned but pushed herself up from the ground to stand beside the others.
"How much magic do you have left?" Shane questioned Belle when they left the cave.
"I'll only have enough to get Hunter back, if that."
"Alright, then we'll have to find him the old fashioned way."
The group then sat out in search of the tall maroon ranger. They hiked for a good hour or two before they took a break.
"Does anyone else worry that we haven't seen Hunter for hours?" Dustin asked as he sat down on the ground.
No one answered him as Tori joined Dustin to sit on the ground.
"How did you get your powers anyway?" Tori questioned Blake.
"You never told us how any of that happened."
"It's a long story," Blake told her.
"Trust him, it's pretty long," Belle commented.
"You know?" Blake let out in shock.
"Yeah, Hunter told me."
Blake gave a deep sigh at her words.
"It is amazing how you managed to gain Hunter's trust in the small amount of time that you had. Do the rest of you really want to hear it?"
"Yeah," Shane agreed. "It's either that or watch Dustin play in the dirt."
Since Belle had already heard the story, she let herself fall into a sort of meditative state to gather her strength and magic. I'll only have one shot, Belle told herself. I can't let any of my magic go to waste or the spell won't work. When the others started to move out, Belle snapped herself out of her daze to trail after them.
"This island reeks," Dustin groaned as they walked through the green gas. Everyone else agreed but they all kept silent about it. Their trek across the half grassy, half sandy hill was cut short when they heard a yell up ahead followed by a body rolling down the hill. Belle was the first one to realize that it was Hunter, so she was the first one to rush forward via ninja streak.
"Hunter," Belle said when she came to a stop in front of him. She couldn't believe the state that he was in because of Choobo.
"Blake! Blake!" Hunter called out for his brother.
The other rangers behind Belle made to join her, but a blast from the snail monster was enough to stop them. The others transformed to fight the snail while Belle transformed for some extra protection against Hunter.
"Hunter, you've got to snap out of it!" Belle shouted at him as she dodged his blows.
"Get out of my way, you worthless kunoichi!"
Belle gave a sigh at the fact that her words weren't reaching him and decided to get on with the cleansing spell. While she started the spell, she took the time to refine it so that it would only reach Hunter and that it would be more condensed than the last time. I hope this works, Belle worried in her mind while her whole body glowed white gold. Here goes nothing. At first Belle used her magic to seep into Hunter's ranger uniform that caused it to disappear as it cleansed the slime from his helmet. When she was free to get to his head without restriction, Belle shot forward to cradle his face in between her hands. There was a little hesitation on Belle's part before she pressed her lips to Hunter's after letting her face plates pull back that had all of Belle's inner light from the spell seeping into Hunter's body. When the others had taken care of the snail monster, they turned to see Belle lip locked with Hunter.
"What is she doing?!" Shane shouted in anger.
"Just look," Tori pointed out when she noticed the way Belle's magic was spilling into Hunter's body.
As the transfer went on, Belle slowly lost her strength until she all but collapsed to the side. However, Hunter's arms came forward to catch her.
"Lil' Firecracker," Hunter uttered in shock at the pale and weak girl he held in his arms.
"You owe me," Belle groaned, hardly able to move her body in Hunter's arms.
The sound of battle could be heard behind them that broke the small moment.
"You should go help the others," Belle suggested with a nod towards the others.
"But what about you?"
"I'll be fine," Belle assured him. "I don't think I can move, much less help."
Hunter looked like he wanted to do anything but that, he lay her down on the sand then morphed to go help the other rangers.
"Hunter, it's good to have you back," Blake grinned under his helmet when Hunter rejoined them.
"It's good to be back."
With all of the rangers, save for Belle, working together Choobo ran off with his tail between his legs.
"Guess Choobo didn't feel like sticking around for an encore," Tori commented before turning her attention to Hunter.
"I'm guessing Anna's spell worked."
"I guess so," Hunter said. "But it must have took a lot out of her 'cause she was half conscious when I left her."
The group then rushed over to Belle's side to see her passed out due to exhaustion.
"She is definitely a loyal friend," Blake remarked while giving his brother a meaningful look.
"That she is," Hunter admitted.
A beep from their comms was enough to fill the Wind Rangers with hope.
"Is that you Cam?" Shane asked.
"No, it's the phone company," Cam sassed. "I'm calling to find out if you're happy with your long distance service."
"Is he always this, uh, funny?" Hunter questioned.
"Not always," Shane chuckled.
"We're great Cam, besides Anna, thanks for asking."
"What do you mean 'besides Anna'?" Cam all but groaned.
"She had to use a lot of her magic getting the Thunder brothers back. I think she'll just need some rest."
"Of course she did."
"Tell the Thunder Rangers that I must speak with them upon your return," Sensei Watanabe told Shane.
"Which brings up our next problem," Cam pointed out.
"You're on an island that's sinking fast. You've got to find a way off."
"Well, how about the-how about the gliders?" Dustin suggested.
"The atmospheric pressure's too unstable right now," Cam countered.
"It wouldn't be too safe."
"What about the zords?" Blake offered.
"Good idea Blake," Sensei Watanabe praised.
"But Anna isn't going to be able to ride in her zord," Tori argued.
"I'll take her in my zord," Hunter insisted, only to get stares from everyone save Blake.
"What?"
The Wind Rangers said nothing as they weren't sure how safe it would be to leave Belle in Hunter's care. Considering the situation, the Wind rangers didn't have much choice or the ability to argue.
"Fine," Shane relented when no one said anything.
"They're on their way," Cam told the group. "I just have to check the structural integrity to make certain they can stand the water pressure."
"We're ready," Shane said. "Let's do it."
After Hunter scooped Belle up in his arms, he told the group to wait.
"I just wanted to say that I appreciate the way you stood up for me."
"That's what friends do," Shane dismissed easily but stopped on a dime. "But you'll have to have a talk with Anna before everything is settled."
All Hunter could do was nod at his words. The group then continued walking with Hunter speeding up a bit to catch up. The quiet moment was then interrupted by the snail monster from earlier growing in size.
"Cam, about those zords," Shane said into the comms.
"On their way."
With the two teams working together, it was nothing to take care of the monster. That also meant that they could leave the island right after. Since there wasn't a lot of space for Belle to be anywhere else, Hunter had to have her sit sideways in his lap with her head resting in between helmet and shoulder. Every so often he would look down at Belle to see that she was still asleep then focus back in front of him. Not long after that Belle began to stir against him. Given that the last thing Belle remembered was that she had passed out on the sandy beach, she was confused that she was sitting up against a firm surface that moved rhythmically. Am I leaning against someone, Belle asked herself.
"Anna?"
As soon as Belle recognized Hunter's voice, her body automatically tensed and her heart rate sped up in slight fear. On the surface level, Belle knew that Hunter was on their side now, but on a deeper level, Belle's body cou;dn't shake the feeling of being beaten. Hunter could feel the way that Belle tensed up and he felt horrible that he was the cause. He didn't even know what he could say to her to make the situation better. His mouth opened and closed under his helmet to try and say something, but his voice was stolen from him whenever he tried to speak. Belle was finally the first one to talk.
"Why did you attack me?" she asked in an almost whisper.
"Anna, I-,"
"I thought that we were friends. I understood why you were trying to use me as bait before, but that was going too far."
Hunter's heart gave a painful lurch at Belle's words and the hurt he felt in her voice. He knew he had hurt her, both physically and emotionally, but actually seeing how much was a different matter.
"I don't know," Hunter admitted before his words started to come out in a rush.
"My emotions were all over the place, I thought that you were just playing me and it hurt to think that. Before I knew it, my fist shot forward and it was kind of like punching a pillow letting your feelings out. My mind kind of distanced itself with the fact that I was punching you until I stopped and I instantly regretted what I did."
Both were silent as Hunter got his words off his chest.
"I thought I would never hurt you Anna, but I guess I was wrong. I know I screwed up, but I don't want to lose you because of this."
The silence that came next did nothing for Hunter's nerves as he eagerly waited for what Belle would say next.
"I will admit that it will take a while for me to trust you again or for me to stop flinching around you," Belle admitted.
"But I will give you another chance if you promise never to raise a hand to me again. I refuse to go through that again."
Instant relief rushed through Hunter's body at Belle's words and it was evident in his words when he spoke next.
"I promise on my honor as a Thunder ninja that I will never hurt you like that again," Hunter stated firmly before he sort of sagged in his seat.
"To be honest, I thought that you would never forgive me. Hell, I wouldn't have if the situation was reversed."
"Well, you have a beating to be had from Ron, so I wouldn't be too relieved," Belle remarked with a small smirk.
"You mean the tech geek?" Hunter scoffed. "I don't think he could throw much of a punch."
While Hunter was talking, Belle saw all of the things that Cam had done as training such as punching a cinder block in half. You are going to eat those words Hunter, Belle thought to herself. And I am going to laugh my ass off when you realize how much of a competent fighter Ron is.
"We'll see," was all Belle said.
Due to her fatigue, Belle let her head fall back into the crook of Hunter's neck while Hunter let his head lead against Belle's. Just having Belle close was enough to convince Hunter that she was actually here and that while she hadn't forgiven him right away, they were starting down the road to recovery. Nothing could have made Hunter more happy than knowing that he wasn't going to be cut off from Belle's life.
ooo0ooo
When the rangers got back to Blue Bay, Cam forced Belle to sit down in the command center so that he could look her over for any injuries. Once he was satisfied that she had no external injuries, he gave her a restorative potion to drink. She downed the potion with no complaints. She was actually rather touched that Cam cared so much about her to fuss over her.
"Thank you Ron," Belle smiled up at him.
Seeing the way that Belle was smiling up at him with her eyes sparkling, Cam felt a warmth bloom in his chest and an unconscious smile working its way on his lips.
"You're welcome Anna, but please be more careful from now on."
"I will."
Cam made to walk away to go back to the computer, but Belle's arms snaked forward to wrap around Cam's waist. Rather than try to pry her arms off or stand there stiffly, Cam walked forward so that Belle could rest her head against him while his arms came to wrap around her. They both relished the comfort they gave each other while they just existed.
"How did the talk with Hunter go?" Cam voiced after a few minutes of comfortable silence.
"I decided to give him a second chance," Belle admitted softly.
While Cam wanted to respect Belle's decision, he couldn't help but have wanted for Hunter to suffer a little.
"I also said that he had a beating to get from you."
This made Cam smirk at the fact that Belle was letting him get his revenge for her.
"What did he say to that?"
"He didn't believe that you could kick his ass, but I know differently."
It was safe to say that Cam's ego soared towards the ceiling at the amount of confidence Belle had in his fighting abilities. About a half hour later, the three Wind Rangers and the Thunder Brothers joined Cam, Belle, and Sensei Watanabe at Ninja Ops to discuss plans for the future.
"We actually wanted to talk to everyone," Blake announced to the group once they were all gathered around the table in the computer room.
"We'd like to retire from being rangers," Hunter finished for his brother.
Belle's eyes softened at the brothers' words. She couldn't blame them for wanting out after all that they had gone through. Hell, if she had begun her ranger career the same way the Thunder Brothers had, Belle would have come to the same conclusion.
"Whoa, wait a minute," Shane said while shaking his head.
"Let me get this straight. After all we went through, you guys want to walk away from being rangers?"
"We don't want anything happening to you because of us," Hunter continued, keeping his eyes on the young kunoichi.
"You guys are the only thing standing between Lothor and millions of different people."
"But you've been given a gift," Tori tried to persuade the two.
"Isn't it your responsibility to use that gift?"
"We should let them have time to relax now that their lives aren't being threatened," Belle argued.
"Both Tori and Anna are right," Sensei Watanabe agreed. "Hunter, Blake, Sensei Omino knew the thunder ranger powers were meant for you, but I cannot force you to live up to your responsibility."
"So what do you say?" Shane asked the Thunder Brothers.
"You guys in or not?"
"We'll think about it," Hunter relented after sharing a look with his brother. Seemingly satisfied with that answer, Tori, Dustin, and Shane left Ninja Ops which left the Thunder brothers with Belle, Cam, and Sensei Watanabe. Now that the brothers were the only ones left besides the residents of Ninja Ops, Belle felt a little nervous about how to act around them. Well, I could invite them to dinner, Belle thought to herself. I don't think that they have had a home cooked meal in a long time.
"Do you guys want to stay for dinner?" Belle offered the two after a moment of silence.
"That's alright," Blake denied with a small smile.
"We'll be fine," Hunter started to add until his stomach let out a growl.
Instead of letting his embarrassment show on his face, Hunter let his face fall into an emotionless mask. That was enough of a push for Belle to forget about everything that had happened before for a few minutes.
"That settles it. You two are staying for dinner."
She made sure to put one hand on each of the Thunder Brothers' back so that she could push the two of them towards the kitchen. Cam watched the whole spectacle in amusement while the brothers were a little surprised with how much strength the little kunoichi was displaying. Everyone sat down to a lovely dinner that filled their stomachs and put the warmth of happiness in their chests. When dinner came to an end, Belle was trying hard to hide her yawns or the way her eyes drooped. Cam was the first to notice and convinced her to head to bed while he cleaned up. She looked a little guilty at having him clean, but she did not hesitate to shuffle towards the bedrooms.
"Night everyone."
"Goodnight/Night," was chorused back to her from the others in the kitchen.
When Cam made to gather the dirty dishes from the table, Blake and Hunter hastened to help him.
"Thanks," he said.
"We should be thanking you guys," Blake denied with a shake of his head.
"You guys did a lot to help us. Especially Anna."
There was a miniscule slump of Hunter's shoulders at how he remembered treating her, but he quickly covered up the action by placing dishes in the sink.
"It's been a while since we had a home cooked meal," Hunter admitted.
"I'm sure Anna will invite you over for dinner," Sensei Watanabe told the Thunder Brothers.
The rest of the cleanup went by smoothly until Cam was walking the Thunder Brothers out of Ninja Ops. It looks like things are getting better, Cam thought to himself. I just hope that it will get better for Anna.
The next morning, Belle was up at her normal time to go through her usual workout routine around the city. Everything was going as it usually would except this morning Belle ran into the Thunder Brothers in their own workout routine. When Belle first spotted them, she actually debated acting as if she hadn't seen them and continue on her own way, but she mentally slapped herself when she realized where her thoughts were taking her. You said you would give Hunter another chance, she argued with herself. With a thorough scolding of herself, Belle jogged up to the pair and offered them to come back to Ninja Ops with her for breakfast once their workout was finished.
"As much as we appreciate your offer," Blake had begun politely.
"We can feed ourselves," Hunter finished.
"Just because you two don't want to be rangers doesn't mean that we can't still be friends," Belle pointed out.
Both Hunter and Blake couldn't help but agree with her words. They didn't have any friends outside of the rangers, and they weren't sure that the others wouldn't try to badger them to pick up the ranger mantle again. Belle, on the other hand, was only offering some friendship without any pressure to be rangers. It was definitely tempting to take her offer. It was safe to say that the brothers became regulars at Ninja Ops for breakfast and dinner with lunch being more irregular. After their presence became a more regular sight for Belle and Cam, the brothers had to admit that Belle gave them a sense of home that they hadn't felt in so long. The way that she made sure to include them and care for them had brought the two to tears a couple times when they were alone. When the Thunder Brothers had started working at Storm Chargers, Belle had taken to packing them a lunch to take when they would come over for breakfast. They of course wanted to protest, but Belle wasn't having any of it. She would make sure that they had something to eat for lunch. On this particular day, Belle had sent the brothers off to work with their lunches then she worked on her schoolwork and coding with Cam. It was during one of Belle's coding sessions with Cam that found both Tori and Shane in the computer room with them. Tori was looking over Cam's shoulder to look at the diagram of the Thunder Megazord while Shane was skating in the background.
"I'm confused," Cam sighed in exasperation. "Does it now say 'skate park' outside the secret entrance?"
"Sorry," Shane apologized while stepping on his board so that he could catch the lip.
"Someone knew what they were doing when they built these thunder zords," Cam commented.
"The technology is amazing."
"Yeah," Tori agreed. "Now all we need is someone to drive them."
"Give it a rest Tori," Belle said. "This is something for Hunter and Blake to decide for themselves."
"Anna is right," Sensei Watanabe chimed in. "Blake and Hunter will follow their destiny. Whatever that may be."
"That's weird," Cam mumbled to himself when something caught his eye.
"That is weird," Belle seconded when she saw what he did.
"What?" Shane questioned with a smirk. "Finally found something you can't figure out."
"Don't be jealous of how smart he is Shane," Belle remarked with a smirk of her own.
"No," Cam scoffed at Shane's question.
"I've scanned the thunder zords for damage, and I keep coming up with this nonfunctional retrofit."
"Could you repeat that with fewer syllables?" Tori requested.
"He means that there is an extra piece that doesn't have a purpose, but it's important to the internal design," Belle supplied easily.
"I'd love to know what the deal is with it," Cam said.
"Wouldn't that count as something you can't figure out?" Shane sassed that had Cam giving him a very annoyed look.
Both Tori and Belle tried their hardest not to laugh at the interaction, but a few giggles did slip out.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o
Out on the beach after their shifts found the Thunder Brothers riding their motocross bikes across the sand, spraying water while they weaved. They both curved wide as they came to a stop then let their tires dig into the sand. Satisfied that their bikes would stay up, they reached up to pull off their helmets to breathe in fresh air.
"Whoo," Hunter chuckled as he placed his helmet on his handlebars.
"Man, I could definitely chill here for a while," Blake commented, coming to stand beside his brother.
"So that's a vote for staying," Hunter remarked.
"We both know that there is a vote for you staying," Blake pointed out.
"What do you mean?" Hunter denied trying to save face.
"Oh, you know, a small thing with purple hair and a wicked temper," Blake listed off with a smirk.
"Like you wouldn't stay for a certain blonde tomboy," Hunter fired right back.
"Well, it just seems like everything we've been through must be for a reason," Blake sighed.
"Not to mention, I think Anna would hunt us down if we left."
They both took a moment of silence to silently agree that Belle would in fact do that.
"I didn't know that you gave her Mom's ring," Blake continued in a soft voice that had Hunter jumping very slightly.
"You know about that?"
"She showed me when we were on the island."
"I thought that I was going to wait to give that to who I was going to marry," Hunter began.
"But Anna just has a way of worming into your life. It seemed like before I knew it, she was all I could think about."
"She's very loyal, I'll give her that. Not to mention, we both know that staying would be the right thing to do."
The two made to get back on their bikes, but the arrival of a certain green general stopped them.
"Ranger or not to ranger," Choobo uttered. "What a stupid question."
"Yo, dude," Hunter said. "Private conversation."
"Yeah, what do you want anyway?" Blake asked.
"I'm thinking…," Choobo trailed off attempting to look deep in thought.
"Revenge."
With that he sent an energy blast at the Thunder brothers that they managed to dodge. They were quick to morph after that to give themselves a better chance with the fight.
"Here, let me give you a hand!" Choobo shouted as two hands shot out from the pack on his back to pull the Thunder Rangers in.
As soon as the lid of the basket closed, Belle back at Ninja Ops stopped in her tracks on her way deeper in towards the living area with a far away look in her eyes.
"Anna?" Cam said in hopes of snapping her out of it.
He watched as her almost emotionless, glassy look morphed into something akin to shock and anger until her eyes refocused on her surroundings.
"Something happened to the brothers," Belle growled to Cam, spinning on her heel to tell the other rangers.
Tori and Shane tensed at the news as they feared for the worst.
"Is it like last time?" Tori ventured with hope in her voice that it was not the case.
"No," Belle denied with a shake of her head.
"They're just trapped, not brainwashed."
Both the red and blue rangers let out an obvious sigh of relief.
"Thank god," Tori smiled.
"Yeah, I'd rather not get my butt handed to me again," Shane commented.
By that time, Dustin had shown up at Ninja Ops to tell the others about Hunter and Blake being missing.
"We already know they're missing," Shane told the lanky yellow ranger who couldn't contain his surprise.
"How'd you know?"
"Anna," Tori, Shane, and Cam said in unison.
"Shorty, you've got to teach me how to do that," Dustin grinned down at the shorter ranger.
"Sorry Géant," Belle shrugged. "It's not something I can teach. It's tied in with my magic."
"I think I might have found them," Cam announced to the group.
Tori and Belle were the first to crowd around Cam to look at the surveillance feed to see Choobo crouching in the forest.
"I'm assuming he's not there for the scenery."
"I don't know dude," Dustin remarked. "That place is kind of cool, especially this time of year."
In almost perfect unison, everyone turned to give Dustin a look of disbelief. He jumped a little at having everyone's attention on him, but he realized that it was not the time for his comments.
"Right."
The rangers then moved to the side to morph after a prompt from Shane.
"Ready?"
"Ready."
"Ninja Storm!"
"Cosmic Storm!"
"Ranger Form!"
"I'll think we'll need the tsunami cycles for this Ron," Belle told the older male.
"Right. Meet you guys at the mobile command center."
Not fifteen minutes later, the rangers rode down the ramp off of the back of the mobile command center only to speed down the highway. With one wheelie, all four of them were speeding off towards the forest.
"Right on time," Choobo greeted the rangers when they pulled up a little ways from him.
Belle was the first to pull her cycle to a stop and hop off to stand off with Choobo.
"Give us back the Thunder brothers," she ordered, drawing her sword and tanto blades from their sheathes.
"Why don't you join them?" Choobo shot back. "There's room for three more inside."
The Wind Rangers plus Belle gave Choobo a look of confusion.
"I think you did your math wrong," Dustin sassed. "There's four of us."
"Three of you are going into the pack," Choobo explained. "The White Gold Ranger is going to be a present to Lothor."
"Not gonna happen," Shane said.
"How about some new playmates instead? Kelzaks!"
Belle fell into a crouched fighting stance before launching herself into battle. The Wind Rangers were not that far behind her as she slashed through the onslaught of Kelzaks. The four rangers were easily mowing down the Kelzaks, but Belle wasn't satisfied with how slow she was in make up for it, she traded her blades for her tessen. Stars sprang up from her fans that took out a good chunk of Kelacks with an arc from each fan.
"The more the merrier, I always say!" Choobo shouted over to the rangers.
Even more Kelzaks poured from around the trees who were quick to swarm the rangers to hold them down. Shane was tackled down to the ground while Dustin was held in place. Belle was rooted to the spot because of the Kelzaks that held her arms with a growl while Tori jumped up into a tree. Rather than wait for Tori's attack to set her free, Belle jumped up then used the Kelzak in front of her to twist around and out of the other Kelzaks' hold.
"Bushi, give me a weak point," Belle whispered into her comms.
"The tubing on his chest connects to his pack," Cam told her. "You should be able to free the Thunder Rangers if you slash it."
"Will do."
Belle waited for the perfect moment to strike before she darted forward and cut the tubing from behind him. She made sure to jump back after cutting it so that the electrical pulse didn't touch her. Choobo fell back onto his ass with a shout as his pack popped open to release the Thunder brothers.
"We're back," Hunter sighed in relief when he saw that he and Blake were no longer in that weird world.
"You guys certainly need a lot of saving," Belle remarked in good humor, coming to stand by his side.
"Thanks Anna," Blake smiled from under his helmet.
"Now I owe you again," Hunter groaned. "How many times have you saved my ass now?"
"If I was keeping score," Belle mused. "It will be about three or four times now."
"You guys okay?" Tori asked the Thunder brothers when the rest of the team joined them.
"We're fine," Hunter assured her.
Satisfied that they were okay, all six rangers faced off against Choobo.
"You rangers and your teamwork really cheese me off," he huffed.
"Well you attacking the Thunder Rangers really piss me off," Belle quipped back.
"Anna," Dustina and Shane scolded while Hunter uttered in shock.
Choobo sent an energy blast at the rangers, but they were quick to get out of the way by shedding a copy of their uniforms behind where they once stood.
"Oh! I hate it when they do that!"
In a beautiful display of teamwork, Choobo was bombarded from all sides from each of the rangers. When the Wind and Thunder Rangers put together their weapons, Belle stood to the side to offer support for them.
"Wait!" Choobo shouted.
"Don't listen to him," Belle argued hotly. "He didn't show any mercy for the Thunder brothers so why should we give any to him."
In the time that it took for Belle to give her two cents, Choobo was able to pull the Wind Rangers towards his side of the fight.
"Fuck," Belle hissed under her breath.
"I'm holding the strings here," Choobo gloated to the other rangers.
"Now do what I do."
When Belle saw Choobo's finger move as if to shoot the gun at them, she sent some of her magic across the field to freeze his actions somewhat.
"Fight it guys!" she called over to the Wind Rangers.
Meanwhile Hunter and Blake fought over if to shoot the others or not. Hunter made the final call by dropping the Thunder Blaster to the group that caused it to come apart.
"I can't risk it," Hunter confessed to Blake and Belle.
Belle's brows knit in concern over Hunter's conflict and she chose to put a hand on Hunter's shoulder rather than voice her comfort.
More strain was placed on Belle's magic when the power of Choobo's control got stronger that had Belle grimacing under her helmet. She didn't have to send out more magic because, in an impressive display of will, Shane managed to pull the combined weapon up towards his chest.
"Duck!" Hunter called to the Wind Rangers so that he could hit Choobo behind them when they hit the deck.
When Hunter's blast hit Choobo, Blake was quick to jump off of Hunter's arm to kick Choobo back.
"Great teamwork boys," Belle congratulated the Thunder brothers.
"Why don't we finish this and get on home?"
"You read my mind," Shane smirked under his helmet.
That was all the encouragement the rangers needed to shoot their attacks. While this would have completely obliterated any enemy before, this did little to Choobo.
"Don't count me out yet! I still have one trick up my sleeve!"
With the toss of a scroll, Choobo started getting bigger and bigger.
"Cam, it's zord time," Shane said into his comms.
"They're on their way."
It didn't take long for the zords to show up that all of the rangers hopped into at once. The rangers also didn't hesitate to morph their zords into their megazord mode with Belle's wolf zord being the smallest.
"Things are about to get a little sticky for you rangers," Choobo taunted.
The rangers were good at fighting as a team against Choobo, but he was a bit more fluid than the bulky zords while Belle had it a little easier to dodge his spin attack. It was when the Storm and Thunder Megazords were knocked down that Cam realized what the extra part was for the Thunder zords.
"Thanks Cam," Shane said when a new power disk appeared in his cockpit.
"But how about filling us in on the big secret?"
"Yeah," Hunter agreed with his own power disk in hand.
"The only way you're going to beat Choobo is to combine your megazords," Cam pointed out.
Various amounts of confused expressions came through the comms that Cam brushed off easily.
"Call the Mini Zord. He was part of the program all along."
"The Mini Zord?" Hunter echoed.
"Just trust me."
"You heard him gang," Belle spoke up after only a second of silence while she clutched her own power disk in her hand.
"It will be good to see the powers of wind, thunder, and star working together," Sensei Watanabe commented.
"You guys up for this?" Shane questioned the others.
"Always ready," Belle smirked.
The Thunder brothers were also quick to agree that ended with a cute little bot putting itself together from three separate parts.
"I am Mini Zord," it announced.
"Storm Megazord, Wolf Megazord, Thunder Megazord, combine!"
"Cosmic Thunderstorm Megazord, formation!"
In flawless ease, all three megazords combined into one large megazord. This time when hit with Choobo's staff, there was hardly a scratch on the megazord.
"You broke my stick!" Choobo exclaimed angrily.
"Oh cry us a river!" Belle shouted.
"Ready Hunter, Lupa?" Shane asked the maroon ranger.
"Ready," both Hunter and Belle agreed.
The Cosmic Thunderstorm Megazord then started to move forward on its conveyor belt feet towards Choobo.
"Oh, so that's the way it's going to be."
The next energy blast bounced right off the Megazord, much to the rangers' delight. One mighty punch from the Megazord was enough to send Choobo skidding back a few feet with his chest sparking only to land flat on his back.
"This thing rocks!" Blake cheered at the newfound strength.
"No doubt," Hunter chuckled.
"That was a lucky shot," Choobo sniffed while he got back to his feet.
"Okay, now what?" Shane said only to be answered by the Mini Zord.
"Use the Lion Blaster. It will be your best defense."
"Well, if you say so."
True to Mini Zord's words, the blast was enough to hold Choobo back.
"You always have to win, don't you?" Choobo spat at the rangers.
"Pretty much," Belle drawled.
"You can't just let me have one little-,"
The one step that he took was enough to send a shock of sparks through his system that ended with him exploding when he hit the ground. A sigh of relief left Belle at the victory and her mind went to the upcoming Thanksgiving season. I wonder if Sensei and Cam would want to come to my house? Would the Thunder brothers want to come too? While Sensei Watanabe and Cam were an obvious choice, she hesitated with the thought of taking the brothers. Blake she was ok with, but she had second thoughts about Hunter. While she was slowly starting to trust Hunter again due to his diligence in making up for his past mistakes, she had a feeling that her family weren't going to be as forgiving towards the Maroon Ranger as she was.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
Upon coming back to Ninja Ops, Belle stepped to the side to call her mother.
"Anna," Mama Luna greeted her daughter warmly.
"How are you ma chou?"
"I'm fine Mom," Belle smiled unconsciously that slowly turned into her biting her lip.
"I had a question to ask you though."
"What's that?"
"I was wondering if we had room for four more people at the table for Thanksgiving."
"I don't see why not," Mama Luna said. "I take it that you want to invite Mr. Watanabe and Cam, but who are the other two seats for?"
"The Thunder Brothers," Belle answered slowly.
"You want the person who almost killed you to come to Thanksgiving dinner?" Mama Luna questioned in irritated anger.
While she knew that the team needed the new rangers, she still hadn't forgiven how he had almost taken her only daughter from her so easily.
"Hunter isn't like that anymore Mom," Belle argued. "They don't have anyone so I wanted them to at least have somewhere to spend the holiday."
There were a few moments of silence from Mama Luna's end that made nervous knots form in Belle's stomach while Mama Luna thought over what to do. While she wanted to put her foot down and deny the invitation, she knew that it would hurt her daughter to leave them behind. She swore sometimes that her daughter's heart was too big just like her husband's.
"Fine," Mama Luna finally ground out. "But one toe out of line and I will turn him into a frog."
A relieved smile bloomed on Belle's lips at her mother's words.
"Thank you Mom. I'm sure he will behave himself."
"We'll have the room if they stay in the rooms that others usually take free for them if they would like to stay from Wednesday to Friday."
There was another moment of silence as Belle tried to plan out how they would get to her home.
"We'll probably leave through the portal in my room-,"
"You might want to rethink coming through the portal," Mama Luna spoke up.
"Xander and the others are talking about driving there to come get you for Thanksgiving. Now that there are more people coming, they'll probably come with a large van."
"How are they going to get a car that large?" Belle questioned.
"I may or may not magic up a vehicle," Mama Luna said slyly.
Belle rolled her eyes at her mother's antics.
"But then how are we going to go for a drive with Sensei in his guinea pig body?"
"Was it some sort of magic that changed your sensei?"
"I'm not sure."
"I think I may have a spell that can reverse the effects of whatever was cast on him for a couple days," Mama Luna told her daughter.
"You should bring this up with the others before you plan for it ma petite. Call me and let me know what their answers are before it's too late."
"Yes, Mama."
"I love you and I'll talk to you later."
"Love you too Mom. Talk to you later."
When Belle made it back to the computer room, she saw that the Thunder brothers were back and talking with the others.
"I can't believe you said no," Dustin said to the brothers with disbelief clear in his voice.
"Factory Blue-That's nuts."
"We had something more important to do," Blake told him.
"Huh?" Shane questioned.
"We're in," Hunter smiled at the other rangers.
Everyone erupted into excited shouts while Belle walked further into the room to give Hunter a pat on the back.
"I'm glad the both of you are staying," Belle smiled up at the two brothers.
"You have made a difficult decision," Sensei Watanabe told the boys.
"I believe it is the correct one."
"Yeah, no lie," Dustin agreed with a large smile. "This is sweet."
"You're one of us now," Shane continued with arms around both brothers.
Both of the Bradleys welcomed the warmth that blossomed in their chest at the warm reception that they were getting from the group. After all that they had gone through, they did not think that they would have gotten such a good place to live and amazing friends. The biggest feeling of acceptance that they felt came from the petite galaxy haired girl.
The Wind Rangers stayed for a few more minutes before they decided to head back to their homes. Both Hunter and Blake both decided to stay again for dinner, so Belle decided to ask them about Thanksgiving plans. The boys also, as usual, helped Belle with making the food. A sort of homely peace settled over the brothers and Cam as they chopped, stirred, or gathered ingredients. Cooking with Belle brought back a sense of having no worries outside of the kitchen. When everyone was settled down at the kitchen table with a plate of food, Belle turned to everyone present.
"I have something that I wanted to speak to you guys about," Belle said that had everyone looking at her.
"Thanksgiving is coming up soon and I was wondering if you wanted to come over to my house from Wednesday to Saturday morning."
The floored look the boys gave her would have been comical if Belle wasn't waiting anxiously for their answer.
"You want us to come over?" Hunter asked.
"For Thanksgiving?" Cam clarified.
"Yes."
"What does your mother think of the idea?" Sensei Watanabe questioned, being the logical adult he was.
"She's fine with it as long as you guys want to come over. We have two rooms with two beds each that will fit everyone comfortably."
"That sounds wonderful Anna," Sensei Watanabe smiled.
"I'll be happy to go Anna," Cam agreed.
"There's no way I'm turning down free food," Hunter grinned.
"Though being at your house is a nice bonus."
"I'd be happy to come over," Blake added.
"Great," Belle grinned happily. "I'll tell Mom to have the others bring a nine seater and-,"
"Wait, your friends from back home are coming to get you?" Cam interrupted in confusion.
"Yeah. They're going to do that whether I agree to it or not."
"Where are they going to pick us up?"
"I was just going to make a house in the woods then let it disappear after we left."
"You can do that?" Hunter asked in an impressed voice.
"They can pick us up from our house," Blake offered. "It's not that far from here."
"But what about my father?" Cam butted in.
"That's easy," Belle waved off with a smile. "There is a spell that will reverse the effects of whatever was cast on him for a few days which should get him through the holiday."
Both Cam and Sensei Watanabe couldn't help the hope that shone through in their eyes at the news. They had thought that they would have to wait until Lothor was defeated to try to turn him back to normal. Even if it was just for a few days, that was enough for the two of them.
"Then it's settled. I'll call Mom and let her in on the plan."
ooo0 Ninja of the Stars 0ooo
Hey lovelies, I know that it took me a long time to get this chapter finished but I had a lot of things to do between last month and this month. I had my final exams, I had to move out of my on campus housing, settling back home for the summer, and I also took up a summer job that goes from 5am or 05:00 to 1:30/2:30 pm or 13:30/14:30. It is safe to say that I have had a pretty busy time of getting settled mixed with the odd errand I have to run for family. Anyway, I have time because of the Memorial Day holiday so I took the opportunity to get further with the rewrites. I know that I had to do some modification with how Belle acts around Hunter as well as how Mama Luna would have reacted to Belle wanting to bring him home. Hopefully this was a little bit more realistic than the previous version. As for when I am starting the new chapters, I am not quite sure how I want the next chapter to go until I am actually writing the chapter. I also believe that I have to work on one more chapter and then I will have caught up with the new chapter so that I can get on with writing more of the story. I am so excited for that and I will work towards it as well as work on my other stories so that I can get another chapter out for at least one. That's all I had for this A/N, so I will end it here and get started on the next chapter. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave a review or shoot me a pm. Remember, reviews are magic.
-White Wolf