Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers, House of Anubis or Big Time Rush
House of Power Rangers
Chapter 20: House of Attitude
The rangers had had quite a busy week. A Nighlok called Switchbeast had switched the ranger's spirits with other objects. Jayden was a gnome, Kevin was a music box ballerina, Mia was a fan, Nina was actually her mother's necklace (she was the first one to be switched, in her civilian form) and Antonio was a fish he'd ironically just cooked in the kitchen. Emily and Mike had been tasked with saving the rangers and the city, which they managed to do, unfortunately not before a cat tried to eat the fish Antonio was in. Now the fish loving gold ranger was traumatised by the memory and terrified of fish. He refused to go fishing, let alone look at one. The rangers were now trying to help their fellow ranger get over his fear.
Things had also been especially busy in Shaylee's life. She'd told Nina just last night how she thought she was starting to like Mike… as in a romantic way. Ranger's assistant mentor didn't know what to do. Sure, she'd had a boyfriend before but none of them had known who she really was, who her family was. Mike did. Nina was shocked when she first told her; not because she didn't think Shaylee would have a crush on Mike because Mike was great. She was shocked because she hadn't noticed it before but now, she was seeing the signs she really should've noticed before for example when Shaylee was gushing about how well Mike had done with tracking the mutated Nighlok through the forest. Sure, she was proud, they all were but there was something more Nina couldn't put her finger on at the time.
However, for now the rangers had another issue to deal with a Nighlok at the plaza, Spicpine. She was a big dark overgrown insect with a bone coloured shell from which big black spike emerged. However, the rangers soon learnt that the spikes weren't just there for decoration; Spicpine could in fact eject the spikes from her being! A few civilians had been hit before the rangers arrived and although there were still a few in the plaza, luckily the rangers had morphed prior to their arrival.
"That's enough!" Jayden yelled, to take the Nighlok's attention away from the bystanders.
"Oh look! It's the power rangers," she mocked. "The heroes who can do no wrong. Let's see if we can change that!" She yells before turning her shell to the rangers and ejecting her spikes. The rangers jump out of the way, the spikes just passing through the air where they had previously been.
"Moogers!" She calls as the team began running towards her. The rangers each begin attacking the moogers, blocking their path with their spin swords. Mia manages to make her way through to Spicpine, others holding back the moogers trying to get to her. Nina's handling her group of moogers just fine when she sees a flash of green, taking down the moogers immediately surrounding her. She looks, to find Mike running to her.
"Nina, there's a kid over there! I'll handle the moogers, you get that kid to safety!" He says hurriedly as the moogers begin circling them again. Nina nods once before breaking the circle of moogers surrounding her, running towards the kid, the circle reforming, blocking her vision of Mike. She wasn't worried though. Mike had come incredibly far, and he was an amazing samurai, so she knew he'd be able to handle himself.
"Hey," she says, as she gets within the kids hearing range.
"Whoa, you're the purple power ranger," she gasps.
"Yeah, I am. It's not safe here though so we've got to go. Will you come with me?" She asks, putting out her hand, which she takes.
"Yeah. Are you going to take me to my parents?" She asks as Nina looks to make sure there aren't any approaching threats. Once she's deems the area clear, they begin moving quickly next to the wall.
"Yeah, of course," she replies. "We have to stay close to this wall for now though okay?" The young blonde girl nods. They walk across quickly, Nina talking to the girl (Amber! What a coincidence!) to help distract her from the fight happening less than ten metres away from them. However, glancing back Nina sees a wave of black spikes heading towards them. They're too close for her to dodge them without putting Amber in danger so she does the only thing she can think; she shields Amber's body, putting her between the wall and her. Nina's back is hit by a multitude of spikes, even her legs! She yelps out in pain, falling but not demorphing, and she's almost sure there's another voice yelling out too further behind her. After the pain subsides a few moments later, she begins to try and stand up and she feels a few hands on her arms, helping her. Turning she sees the red and green rangers at her aid.
"Hey kid!" Antonio says coming over, also still morphed. The pain in her back is dull and uncomfortable, like a deep ache.
"I'm so sorry! Is she going to be okay?" Amber asks, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Don't worry, our purple ranger's strong," Jayden assures her. "She'll be just fine."
"And don't apologise," Nina tells her, pushing off Jayden and Mike helping to hold her up, with maximum effort to show the girl she'll be okay. "It's not your fault. My friend will take good care of you to make sure you get back to your parents." Antonio confirms this before walking away with the girl. Once they go around the corner, Nina slumps back down, dropping her morph, the boys catching her before she falls to far.
"What is this?" She heaves, looking over to see Kevin and Emily walking over with Mia. Clearly, the pink ranger had been hit too.
"I think I know but if it's what I think it is, we've got to get you guys back to the house quickly," Jayden tells them, dropping his morph too. He looks apologetic, not sympathetic… Nina knew the difference, so she knew something was up.
"What?"
"We're going to have to pull the ones in your legs out now though." Nina shuts her eyes tightly, audibly exhaling.
"Just do it," she says as he pulls one out. It took all her willpower not to scream out then and there.
Luckily, there were only three that hit her legs. Jayden's suspicions had been confirmed once they got back to the house. There had been a similar Nighlok that previous rangers had faced. Not the samurai rangers,
"The jungle fury rangers have faced a similar Nighlok before," Jayden explained getting off the phone. He had called RJ, the owner of Jungle Karma Pizza, the mentor and purple ranger of the jungle fury rangers. "The spikes contain a poison which makes you act very… out character. Quite rebelliously."
"What do you mean by rebelliously? We'll be 'bad'?" Nina says putting air quotes around the word bad. Once they arrived at home, her and Mia had been taken to the hospital room so Shaylee could take out the quills. She'd had to work fast but Mia and Nina had assured her they couldn't feel any sticking out anymore. Now they were in the living room with Jayden, Emily and Kevin.
"Essentially, yes. If the quills weren't extracted, they would be absorbed into you and the intensity of the rebelliousness would gradually increase until you want to do the Nighlok's work and cause sorrow to raise the Sanzu river, so Shaylee went with Mentor, Mike and Antonio to the hospital to make sure everyone's clear. They'll have more equipment so they can check if anyone really still has a quill that's been absorbed."
"What will happen to us then? You got the quills out in time," Mia points out.
"Yes, but the poison still entered your system. You might feel a bit different too, wanting to do things you wouldn't usually do and they will probably increase in intensity as time goes on but it should wear off once it gets out of your system which should be five hours at most."
"Five hours?" Mia repeats. A lot of damage could be done in five hours.
"It's okay. We'll look out for you guys," Emily assures them. "Besides, it takes a couple more hours than five before you'll want to start terrorising." Nina and Mia look at each other wearily before Nina smiles.
"Mia, you feel like breaking some plates?"
"Absolutely," Mia replies joking as the two of them get up.
It's a couple hours later, around two in the afternoon that Nina heads out into town. She'd started to do some schoolwork, but she was just so exhausted from earlier, the pain of removing the quills was draining even if she couldn't really feel it now. Surprisingly, only one of them had left a mark which was strange, but Nina wasn't going to complain about it even though it was still slightly sore. She wasn't really going anywhere; she was just walking until she thought she recognised someone...but it couldn't be… but it was!
"Nina, hey!" Mia called seeing her friend approaching. The thing that confused Nina was Mia usually black hair now had pink streaks in it.
"Mia, wow! The hair!" Nina replies, not sure how to reply. It wasn't that it didn't look nice, it did. It was just a bold move.
"Do you like it?" The pink ranger asked, flicking it in front of her shoulders so and spinning around so Nina could get a better look. She had to admit it really did suit her.
"Honestly, I really like it," Nina replies, Mia smiling before she gasps.
"You should get your hair done too!" Nina eyes widen at the suggestion, but her mouth curves up a bit.
"You think it would suit me? In purple, of course."
"Definitely!"
"Okay, let's go!" Nina smiles as Mia grabs her hand before dragging her into a nearby salon. Walking up to the desk, Mia asked for her purple highlights before pushing her friend into a chair.
"Nina!" Mia gasped about two hours later when Nina met her. Mia had left to do some shopping while Nina was getting her hair done. She'd even convinced Nina to give her some money to get some things for her. "It looks amazing!" Nina did a little twirl, showing off her new hair.
"Thanks! I know," she grins before reaching for Mia's bags. "Anyways, what did you get me?" Mia pulls them away.
"Patience," Mia tells her, but Nina just rolls her eyes as she walks over to a bench, putting the bags down. Nina follows as Mia pulls out a box, opening it to reveal heeled black ankle boots.
"I wanted to get it for myself but it wasn't in my size and I figured one of us should have it," Mia says handing it over to the purple ranger who drops her mouth open, taking them, sitting on the bench too.
"These are gorgeous!" She exclaimed, already taking off her converse to try them on. They fit perfectly! "I'm wearing these now."
"I wouldn't have it any other way," Mia grinned before Nina pursed her lips.
"Mia, how much were these?" Nina asks but the Mia ranger just smiled mischievously. "I know I couldn't afford these before…" Mia glances down before pulling out a card. Stepping closer, Nina reads the name and it's not Mia's… it's Jayden Shiba!
"You used Jayden's card?" Nina asks.
"Only for your shoes," she replies innocently. Nina just shakes her head, not being able to help her smile, putting out her hand for the card. Mia pouts but slaps the card into her hand. Nina slides the card into her back pocket before taking off the shoes.
"Okay, so I'm going to go and return these," Nina says, putting her shoes back on before putting them back in the box and taking the bag, checking the receipt is there before pulling out her samuraizer. "Hey Kevin, Mia is going to come home now. I just wanted to let you know so you can call me as soon as she arrives," the purple rangers say looking pointedly at the pink ranger who's clearly not impressed. "Thanks," Nina smiles, hanging up as the pink ranger gets up.
"Fine, I was planning on going back now anyways." She walks off with that.
Once Nina returned her new shoes, she started just wandering around again not really sure what to do. She hadn't really had a plan when she left, she just left… without letting anyone know. When she'd called Kevin, he'd been telling her to get back too, asking where she was but she'd just ignored him, hanging up as soon as she finished saying her piece. She knew she couldn't say where she was since Mia could tell them where she was if she wanted too so she just started walking until she found herself in a different but familiar area, with familiar faces.
"Nina, hey," Camille says, noticing the girl walking by the pool of the Palm Woods. Nina had met her a few times and although she was a bit odd sometimes (she'd slapped Logan randomly one time) she seemed nice enough. "I like the hair."
"Aww thanks," Nina smiles, looking around which Camille notices.
"Are you looking for the guys? They've been at Rocque Records all day, so they'll probably be back soon," she says. Nina just side eyes her.
"Did I say I was looking for them?" Camille looks taken aback. Nina's not usually this rude.
"Well, no but -"
"I didn't think so," Nina says walking away, but Camille grabs her arm before she can get too far.
"Nina, you -" But she stops once Nina whips around and rips her arm from her gasp before grabbing Camille's wrist, taking a few steps closer to the brunette so she's in her face.
"Don't you ever touch me like that again," Nina hisses and Camille looks genuinely scared for a moment. She tries moving her wrist, but Nina's grip is like iron.
"Nina, let go of me! You're hurting me," she says, trying to pry Nina's hand off of her.
"That's the point," she deadpans. However, it's at that point that she sees Carlos walking around the corner and in that temporary moment of distraction someone bumps into Camille, causing her to lose her footing and fall on to Nina, the both of them tumbling into the pool. Once they float up, they see everyone around the pool up and looking at them, Big Time Rush included.
"Camille? Nina?" James says as Nina swims over to grab the edge, Kendall and Logan helping her out.
"Are you okay? What happened?" Logan asks, as James and Carlos help Camille. The water wasn't freezing but it wasn't exactly warm either.
"Camille and I were just talking when someone bumped into us and we fell in," Nina explains, glancing over at Camille who nods, clutching her wrist which Logan notices.
"Hey, what's wrong?" He asks, taking her wrist from her. Nina answers before she can,
"That was me," Nina says, acting embarrassed. "When I felt I start falling I got scared and grab onto Camille. Apparently, I'm a lot stronger than I thought."
Camille pulls her wrist away from Logan, glancing at Nina.
"I should probably go change and get this checked out. See you guys later," the brunette says, stepping back, away from Nina.
"Aww, okay! Bye Camille," Nina waves smiling but the brunette just wearily smiles back before leaving.
Logan figures he would keep Camille company once she went to see Doctor Hollywood. Katie and Mrs Knight had gone shopping, so it was just the guys at the apartment. Since her clothes were wet, Kendall gave her one of his oversized sweatshirts to wear. She kept her denim shorts on (it was easier to keep her samuraizer on her this way) but removed her top and shoes, once Kendall left, leaving her in his room so she could dry off and change. As she untucked her still damp hair from the collar, she could hear the slightly raised voices of the boys outside before hearing the door shut. She raised her eyebrows before she opened the door of the room stepping out into the living room however James and Carlos were missing. It was just Kendall standing by the front door.
"Hey, thanks again for this," she smiles going over to sit on the couch. Kendall is a beat late in answering her, clearing his throat.
"Uh, yeah of course! It's not a problem," he says going over to the kitchen. "Do you want something to drink?"
"No, I'm good thanks," she replies as he nods, pouring a glass of water for himself. She pulls a leg up onto the couch as he comes to sit too, leaning her elbow on the back, using her hand to support her head.
"So, I haven't seen you in a few weeks. How've you been?" She asks as he puts his glass down.
"Good mostly! Things here are usually pretty crazy so that was no surprise but I'm glad you're here actually. There's something I've been meaning to tell… did you dye your hair?" He asks and Nina grins.
"Yup! My friend convinced me to. I'm actually kind of annoyed with her at the moment though. She stole Jayden's card and used it to buy me shoes." Seeing Kendall's face drop she smiles. "Don't worry, I returned them, and I took the card so I can give it back to him and I sent her home. Besides, I can't really be mad at her. You see how there was that Nighlok attack this morning?"
"The what attack," Kendall asks, furrowing his brow in confusion. Oops!
"Oh, that monster thing. It shot these quills that make people go act kinda bad," she explains and the blonde guy nods in understanding.
"Oh yeah! They were talk about that on the news. The quills made the people affected by them -"
"Turn bad, yeah. Well, we were in the wrong place at the time and she was hit with a few and hello thief," Nina says waving her hands dramatically. "She should be fine by now though anyways since we managed to take the quills out and by, 'we', I mean a doctor," Nina says correcting herself. Kendall didn't need to know about that part of her life just yet. "I can't believe she stole from Jayden though. Personally, I think we should've just left the quills in there. She caused me less trouble when she was down and in pain."
"That's a bit… extreme don't you think?" Kendall says, shocked.
"Actually, now that I think about it, I could just teach her a lesson myself…" Nina says trailing off in thought.
"Nina," Kendall says placing a hand on her arm. "Are you feeling okay?" She glances down at his hand before shifting forwards and placing her hand on Kendall's neck. She smiles and she looks into his eyes.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she grins as his eyes flicker down to her lips before moving back up to her eyes. She begins leaning closer,
"You want to kiss me," she says and it's not a question. For a moment, Kendall seems to lean towards her too before he seems to see something, leaning back, snapped out of his daze. "What wrong?"
"Nina," he whispers before clearing his throat. "Nina, I think you were hit with one of those quills." The purple ranger just laughs,
"Actually, I was hit with multiple, but they were all removed hours ago. They're not affecting me anymore." Kendall gets up from the chair, giving Nina a hand up too.
"I think you should get checked, just in case," he says, and Nina stops in her tracks.
"No."
"Nina, you're acting- "he begins but she just glares at him which shuts him up.
"I said I'm fine Kendall. I'm acting how I want to act. Not because some stupid quill is making me," she says just as her samuraizer rings. It fell out onto the chair, so she goes back to pick it up.
"Jayden! What? No. Yeah sure, I'm bored with my present company now anyways," the ranger says, looking Kendall up and down who just raises his eyebrows. As she hangs up the phone, she goes back to Kendall's room to grab her top before coming back out.
"I need my shoes," she says shortly.
"I don't think they'd be dry yet," he tells her.
"I don't care," she snaps. "I'm leaving now." Kendall just complies, going to grab her shoes from a heater, holding them out to her. "Thanks." Once she puts on her shoes she begins walking to the door.
"Nina, wait," Kendall calls and she turns to face him. "Do you want me to walk you back?"
"Back? Back where? You don't even know where I live," she scoffs. "And even if you did, I wouldn't let you because you think I'm acting under the influence of a poisonous quill. I'm not. So, bye." She opens the door, gripping on the handle.
"Nina-" she whips back around to face him.
"Kendall, I'm gonna leave now but believe me when I say that if you don't leave me alone, I will do a whole lot worse to you than I did to Camille."
"What?" Logan says, standing in the doorway behind her. She turns, smiling innocently.
"You heard what I said," she replies before shoving past him. "Don't expect to see me soon!"
"Nina!" Jayden yelled as the team entered the house. They had just gotten back from the city hall because Nina had called them to tell them about an 'attack' when there wasn't one. Returning they found the purple ranger sitting in the living room on her laptop playing a game, her spin sword besides her (that would explain why Shaylee and Ji hadn't stopped her). "Why would you do that?"
"Mainly because I was bored, partially because I needed time to set up the surprises, I left in each of your rooms, even Shaylee's half! But she's already seen hers. She was honestly pretty ungrateful." The rangers begin rushing out of the room to check theirs and when Nina hears Mike yell her name, she can't help but smile. Storming back into the room he yells,
"Nina, what's the matter with you?" Hearing his getting to close the purple ranger stood up grabbing her sword and pointed it at him before he got to close.
"Nothing's wrong. At least not anymore. If I'm being perfectly honest, you were more collateral damage. I was going for Mia's bed - "
"What did I do?" Mia asks entering the room angrily with Emily. Nina turns her sword on them, so they stop in their tracks, raising their hands.
"You tried to steal from Jayden which just wasn't cool, so I had to show you that there were consequences, but I see that you're back to normal now which is great. Anyways, I kind of went overboard, and ended up messing up Emily's side too and then I figured it wouldn't be fair to her if the rest of you got to keep your rooms the way they were so I figured I'd trash all of yours too," Nina smiles. "Don't worry, I made sure not to break anything. I'm not that cruel. You just have to put everything back into order… and maybe find a few things too."
"Nina, you can't just go into our rooms and destroy everything!" Emily exclaims, Nina rolls her eyes at the dramatics.
"I just told you I didn't destroy anything. I simply messed things up a bit."
"A bit? My mattress is laying half out of the window!"
Nina giggles at the angry rangers, Kevin and Jayden entering with Ji and Shaylee.
"I don't know what to do with her! Mia's effects wore off hours ago, I don't know what's wrong with her," Shaylee says before noticing Nina's in the room, said girl turning to her with her spin sword and walking towards her threateningly.
"Nothing's wrong with me and I'm getting really sick of everyone saying that there is! How would you feel if everyone kept on saying the only reason you like Mike is because - oops," Nina says, bringing her hand up to her to cover her mouth as she lowers her sword but her cheeks are still raised behind it showing her true emotion as she speaks, "I wasn't supposed to say that was I? Oh well!" Glancing over at Mike, Nina continues before turning back to the mortified assistant mentor. "Don't be so quick to anger. Mike doesn't seem totally appalled at the idea. If you ask me -"
"I don't ask you!" Shaylee snaps stepping forward, but Nina just steps forward too. Jayden puts his hands on his cousins' shoulders, pulling her back.
"Shaylee, Shaylee! It's not really Nina," he mutters but the purple ranger still hears him. Her grin turns sinister,
"Oh Jayden. If it wasn't really me, how would I know that-"
"Nina, why are you doing this?" Jayden says interrupting her, having an idea of what she was going to say.
"I already told you, I was mostly bored, and I was really disappointed in Mia. Oh F.Y.I," Nina says, turning to the pink ranger. "We're good now. I think I did a pretty good job of making you pay so you're fine."
"Does that mean you'll stop this?" Mia asks but the purple ranger shakes her head.
"Why not? You just said you're good now," Kevin tells her.
"Yeah. Mia and I are good. I never really had a problem with the rest of you, but this has actually been kind of fun. I think I might do it again sometime."
"You already trashed our rooms Nina! What more could you possibly do!" Mike yells causing the purple ranger to point her sword at him again, glaring.
"Well for starters, you could be more grateful. I don't plan on doing it to you guys again. That would be unnecessary. However, I don't appreciate you yelling at me. So, I'd suggest you stop," she says, slowly making sure everyone understands her.
"Nina, I swear if you've done something to my fishing award plaque…" Antonio says storming into the living room trailing off as his chest meets the tip of her spin sword. He'd been looking around the house for his plaque but hadn't seen any sign of it.
"I think you all seem to be forgetting one valuable piece of information. I have my spin sword. Sure, you could try and threaten me with yours too. Six against one actually Shaylee and Ji are probably angry enough to grab something too, so it'd be eight on one. Pretty good chances if I say so myself, especially considering some of you actually look angry enough to almost do it but there's our keyword; almost. We all know that if it came down to it, right now, I'm the only one who poses a genuine threat to anyone. So," the purple ranger says, turning around to pick up her laptop. "I'm gonna go to my room and you're all going to leave me alone." She simply walks past the angry rangers before stopping in her tracks.
"Jayden, this is yours. I returned the shoes Mia bought so all the money should still be there." She says, handing him his card which he accepts. "Oh, and Shaylee sorry about the whole Mike thing but since it looks like I'm playing matchmaker, Kevin and Mia," she says turning to them, "you guys like each other! See now it's even."
Once Nina got back to her room, she begins the round of her game again when she got an email… it could only be one person. Smiling, Nina opened her email. However, once she read the message, she sneers shutting her laptop.
Hey Nina,
Sorry we haven't spoken in a while. It has been real busy here - I'll catch you up soon hopefully. Anyways, I just wanted to see how you were. I have this dark, evil feeling for some reason and I'm pretty sure it's something to do with you (in the nicest way possible ;)). Anyways, just let me know. I really feel like something's off.
Eddie
She couldn't even get away from it if she were halfway across the world. Sighing, Nina decides to get something to eat but almost as soon as she opens the door, she sees Shaylee standing outside with Kevin, clearly about to knock.
"What?"
"We made this for you," Kevin says, holding out a glass containing a pink looking smoothie.
"When you say we…"
"Don't worry. Mia didn't participate at all," Kevin assures her.
"We wanted to say sorry for ganging up on you," Shaylee says, and Nina takes a sip.
"This is pretty good," Nina shrugs drinking more. Kevin looks at her expectantly. "That's the only compliment you're gonna get for now." She shoos the two away before turning to walk in the other direction. As she does, she happens to walk past Jayden's, his hair slightly damp. He must've been training and had a shower. She doesn't plan on saying anything but apparently, he does,
"Nina, did Shaylee give you that?" He asks, pointing at the smoothie in her hand.
"Why?"
"Just wondering. I wanted to try some."
"Yeah, she did," she replies slowly, raising the glass up to her eye level. "But this is mine. If you want some, get your own," she says, turning away but Jayden reaches out, lightly grabbing her shoulder but she flinches away violently, clearly in pain.
"What!" She gasps, tentatively rubbing her shoulder. Jayden eyes widen at her reaction.
"What happened to your shoulder?" He asks, but she just shrugs.
"I don't know. It's been hurting since Shaylee took those stupid quills out. Now, I have to get some ice because of you." She's only taken a few steps when Jayden calls after her.
"Wait, I think I might be able to help you. With the pain I mean," Jayden says, making her stop and turn back to him, an eyebrow raised.
"Oh really? And what are you going to do that an ice pack won't?"
"I've been working on a new symbol which can help heal us faster. It sort of worked when I sprained my arm last time, but I've been perfecting it since." Nina had to admit that his arm had healed abnormally fast. She just huffs.
"Fine." The duo head to the hospital room just as the gap sensor begin ringing.
"Yeah, no, I'm not going," Nina says as they pass the other rangers. "And you," she says pointing backwards at Jayden. "Promised to help me so you're not going either."
"But-" Emily begins but Nina's pleasantly shocked to hear Jayden stop her.
"It's fine. You guys go on ahead. I'll meet you there soon," he says as the rangers run out the front door.
Nina had spent the past couple of hours since she got back sorting out the other rangers' rooms. Voluntarily, though. Jayden had lied slightly when he said he'd been working on a new symbol to heal them quickly. He had been working on a symbol, but it wasn't to heal nor was it the one he used. The smoothie Shaylee and Kevin had concocted and given Nina was supposed to neutralise the poison in her body but when Jayden saw that it hadn't worked and she was still in pain, he put the pieces together; there must still be a quill inside her where the bruise was. So, he cast a gentle warming symbol on the bruise on her back before pulling the quill out. The herb in the smoothie quickly took effect in neutralising the poison in her bloodstream. At first, the purple ranger was just confused because it was like something just switched in her brain, but they didn't have time to dwell on it or explain anything since there was a Nighlok to fight. However, by the time they arrive there's a different fight going on than the one they expected. Apparently, Spicpine and a couple of Spitfangs had been destroyed by this new Nighlok they were facing; Serrator and it unfortunately the fight didn't go as they wished it to. Luckily (the term being used loosely), this new Nighlok they were fighting seemed more concerned with taking the rangers down than with harming civilians so when the rangers were knocked down and the Nighlok left, they made their way back to the house, Nina apologising profusely for anything she'd done, since in her mind everything was still a blur. She'd promised to clear up all their rooms, sending them all away into the living room while she worked, adamantly refusing help.
The next morning, Nina was awake early as usual but instead of staying in her room to do her morning work, she decided to start training first instead but she replied to Eddie's email first, explaining what had happened. She felt disgusted with herself for what she'd done the day before. She was beginning to remember and make sense of more and it just wasn't better. It only made her want to train harder. To make her think about something else. So, picking up a wooden sword, she headed over to one of the training dummies and begin attacking it.
"Nina!" A voice yelled, a while later, a hand landing on her shoulder. She spun around, scared with the wooden sword in hand and when she found she was holding it inches away from Jayden's side she immediately dropped her sword.
"I'm sorry!" She gasped. "Did I hurt you?"
"No, I'm fine. Don't worry," he replied, picking up her sword and holding it out to her. As she tentatively takes it, he speaks. "I called you like five times, but you were fighting that dummy like it was Master Xandred himself. What's wrong?" The purple ranger sighs, looking down and shrugging.
"I wasn't expecting purple highlights when I looked in the mirror," she tried to joke but Jayden sees right through her.
"Nina, what happened yesterday wasn't your fault. You weren't in control."
"I know," she sighs, running a hand through her hair (her hair band fell out a while ago), putting the sword down beside her. "I remember making the decisions to do what I did, and they made sense in my head. Like calling you guys out to a fake Nighlok attack? What if there had been a real attack somewhere? People could've gotten seriously hurt and I know I wouldn't have tried to help. I didn't even want to go when there was a real one and I tried to stop you from going!" Jayden looks as though he wants to say something to interrupt the girl but it's clear she hadn't finished yet but what she was saying was visibly upsetting her. "And you want to know what makes it worse? Not only did I point my spin sword at you guys, but I threatened you with it… and it wasn't an empty threat either. Part of me wanted to hurt you. All of you… just because I wanted something to do. And if I was given the opportunity... I would've," she whispers, wiping away a couple of stray tears. Jayden steps forwards, wrapping her in a hug, one hand on her back of her head, soothingly stroking her head as she wraps her arms around him too.
"I know I wasn't in complete control," she continues quietly, "but the things I did yesterday… I did them."
"Nina, listen to me, okay?" He says after a moment of comfortable silence. "The things you did yesterday weren't because you wanted too. They were because the Nighlok wanted you to do evil things. Cause sorrow. But there were things that you could've done that you didn't. You didn't spend the money on my card when you could've. You may have messed up our rooms, but you didn't break or ruin anything beyond repair. And you didn't actually hurt any of us when you know we wouldn't have tried to hurt you back. I know they may seem like stupid little things, but I think a small part of you was trying to fight back. Trying to stop you from going full out." When Nina doesn't reply, he continues. "Besides, we're not mad at you. Especially, since you sorted out all our rooms."
Nina sighs as she pulls away, "I know you're not. But… I shoved them. Oh my gosh and I tried to crush her wrist!"
"What? Who are you talking about?" Jayden asked, a lot more worried.
"I have to go," Nina tells him, ignoring his question as she picks up the sword, handing it to him.
"Do you want me to come with you?" He asks and for a moment she hesitates, as though she might say yes. She wants to say yes but…
"No," she replies. "I should do this myself. I'll be back soon," she says, waving as she goes to her room to shower and change before heading to the Palm Woods.
Nina had had the whole journey to plan and think about what she was going to say when she saw Camille but as she approached the pool and saw her heading into the lobby she suddenly couldn't remember anything but before she could back out, Camille turned around and saw her, stopping in her tracks. Nina hesitated for a moment before she found her legs already making their way over to the brunette.
"Camille, hi," she said, cringing at the bandage wrapped around her wrist. She'd never wished she were weaker or at least of average strength until that moment.
"Hey Nina. I've actually got to be somewhere right now -" Camille began taking a few steps back, but Nina reached out, gently holding her shoulder as she moved around to stand in front of her.
"No Camille, wait please," Nina pleaded but seeing Camille's eye flick nervously to her hand on her shoulder, she let go quickly. "Sorry. Yeah actually sorry! I'm so sorry about what I did to you yesterday. I'd been hit with one of those quills and it was making me act crazy but that's no excuse for -"
"Nina, it's okay. I forgive you."
"You do?" Nina breathed, not quite believing her yet.
"Yeah. My wrist is mostly just bruised so I'll be fine. I kind of assumed it was one of those quills anyways but I'm glad you're back to normal now."
"I was so scared you'd hate me," Nina admits but Camille just smiles before giving her a hug which Nina gratefully returns.
"No way! However, I would like to know why you're so freakishly strong," she laughs as they pull away.
"So, would I," Logan's voice says behind her. Turning around, she sees all the boys from Big Time Rush. "My shoulder is still sore."
"I'm so-" But Logan just raises a hand, laughing slightly.
"Don't even worry about it. We saw the news, we figured out what had happened." Nina couldn't believe how chill everyone was being about this. She'd actually hurt them and… oh no… she'd tried to kiss Kendall! She glanced up at him before looking between them all.
"I can't believe you guys don't want me escorted off the premises," Nina sighed, only half joking. "I did and said such horrible things and I feel awful." It's Kendall who replies his green eyes locking with Nina's.
"Don't. We know what you're like Nina and that wasn't you." Nina doesn't even know how to respond. All she can do is stare into his eyes, and hold her breath and -
"He's right," Camille adds, forcing Nina to divert her attention. "But I was being serious earlier. I actually do have somewhere to be."
"It's cool. I should probably be going soon as well anyways."
"So, what are you gonna do now," Carlos asks Nina once Camille leaves.
"I actually have to get back home soon but is it cool if I steal Kendall for a few minutes?"
"I mean it would be cooler if you stole me for -" James begins but Logan interrupts him.
"What he means to say is sure." Kendall just shakes his head at his friends before walking outside with Nina who waves goodbye to the others.
"So…" Nina begins, not really sure where she was going.
"So…" Kendall repeats. "Your hair. It's different."
"Yeah," she laughs, sighing slightly as she lifts a bit with her fingers, looking at it. "Purple, well, I guess they're more lilac now, highlights. Also, on the list of things I wouldn't have done if I were sane yesterday."
"Well, it's nice though."
"Well, while it's not permanent apparently this is going to be my look for roughly the next six weeks so I'm glad I don't look terrible."
"No, you still look amazing," he replies. Still. Nina can't help the smile that grows on her face, although she tries to keep it down.
"Thank you…and I'm sorry for trying to kiss you yesterday," Nina says.
"It's alright. You don't have to apologise," Kendall tells her before realising what he said. "Not that I wanted to kiss you!" he says before his eyes widen. "Not that I didn't want to kiss you either! I just, I didn't think it would be right to kiss you if you weren't really… you…" Kendall says, blushing by the end of his sentence. Did he just admit he wanted to kiss her? Or was he being nice? Or was she just reading into it too much. Nina wasn't sure but she felt the heat rising in her cheeks too.
"Yeah, I get it. I'm just glad you realised I wasn't me," Nina replies before she realised how what she said sounded. "Not that I wouldn't want to -" Nina cuts herself off before she said something she really shouldn't admit. She claps her hands together once, "I should go."
"Yeah, yeah, of course!" Kendall nods.
"Actually," she says, back around turning around. "I forgot to bring your sweatshirt. I'll drop it off next time."
"No, it's alright. I know you live far. You can keep it," he replies, to which Nina smiles.
"Thank you," she says.
"Although, that reminds me," he says, grabbing her hand to turn her back before she walks away. "I've been wanting to tell you that the me and the guys are actually going on tour soon."
"Oh, for how long?"
"It's not too long. Just over a month, I think. We're staying in the States this time round, oh actually we have one show in Canada too," he explains.
"When do you leave?"
"In about month. 23rd March. We leave from here in the evening."
"Well," she begins, letting go of his hand as she backs away. "Don't leave before I get to say goodbye."
There's chapter twenty! Well, look at that. Even when she tries, she just can't stay away from the Palm Woods. It must be the pool… yeah. If you didn't realise, this chapter was partially inspired by an episode of Power Rangers Jungle Fury (which I also don't own). Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I'll see you on Tuesday. Thanks for reading!
