"This is insane, Kara."
"Do you even hear yourself?" Cassie and Ashley's words shock me, maybe even hurt me a little. But they're both right, no matter what my emotions are. I've always been the level-headed one to balance out Andros and TJ's occasional fire. So for me to even go so far as to suggest this...
"Guys, it's okay. I know what I'm doing."
"Do you, though?" Carlos whispers, and for once, the confident Black Ranger can't bear to meet my gaze, "I don't want to lose you."
"None of us do," TJ adds, "You're irreplaceable, K. And what will we do if trouble comes again?" As always, my second-in-command makes an extremely valid point, and I shake my head.
"If trouble comes," I lift my hand, pointing towards the viewing screen, "it'll be because none of us answered that call."
This entire time, Andros has been silent, which isn't unlike him, but I'm afraid that he'll disagree. That he'll scold me and order me to stay put in this time.
"Kara's right. We haven't faced a threat, at least an extinction level one, since-"
"Since me." Karone murmurs, and I shake my head. The past is just that, the past. It kills me everytime she vocalizes her regret of what she's done. "Now that I'm good, I'm out of the picture. The only possible way a threat can come is, well, from the future."
With that, the entire team bursts into chaos, Cassie, Ashley, Carlos, and TJ arguing against Andros and Karone, with Alpha trying to quiet them down.
The only one who hasn't spoken a word yet is Zayne.
"K, you've gotta consider what you're giving up if you do this." Despite having spoken softly, which is already uncharacteristic of him, he manages to shut us all up. "You're leaving us. Leaving me." When his voice starts to rise, and limbs start to shake, I reach out, placing a hand over his.
"Zayne, that's not my intent and you know it."
He gazes down at where we touch. And pulls his hand away, recoiling from me.
"It sure as hell feels like it."
The punching bag flies back as I hit it one last time, and as it settles, sand begins to trickle from a hole somewhere.
"That's the third one this week." I've never been a very high jumper, but when Kai speaks, I nearly leap straight into the ceiling.
"Maybe don't sneak up on me next time, unless you wanna end up like the bag." My brother doesn't say anything as I head into the kitchen to grab our vacuum, instead choosing to follow me around like a lost puppy. "What?"
"You're only snappy like this when you've been thinking."
"You don't know that."
"On Monday when Leo tried to ask you about your time with the Space Rangers, you told him to, and I quote 'do his own Ranger business'. Yesterday when we were playing truth or dare and Maya asked if you'd ever dated anyone-"
"Okay, okay. You've got me." My response only proves him right, unfortunately, since it's less defeated-sounding and still sarcastic.
"What's on your mind?"
"The past. Time in general." Rather, the time I've lost. Kai's quiet, even as I come to a stop in the hallway.
"When we were little, you were always the stronger one of us," he murmurs, "There was this... huge hill at the park by our house. One day, I'd turned my back for a split second, and you'd gone tumbling down."
He'd freaked out.
"I freaked out."
While he was freaking out and looking for me, he tripped and fell down the hill, too.
"Then I did one of the stupidest things I could possibly do and ended up tripping and falling as well."
When he landed at the bottom of the hill, he started crying.
"Needless to say, I burst into tears."
And then all of a sudden, I was there, helping him up, asking him if he was okay.
"And of course you were there to help me up. You were completely unfazed." Kai lets out a soft, bitter laugh. "Not that you remember any of that."
But I did, just now. "W-wait. I did, I remembered!" Kai grabs at my shoulders, not even caring when the vacuum is left on the floor. "I'm not sure how, but I knew what you were going to say before you said it." My brother pulls away, frowns, and I figure he thinks that I read his mind, "Okay, I'm not a psychic. I know for a fact that the reason I knew those things is because my memories are coming back."
"How'd you do it?"
"I wish I knew," I reply, bending to pick up the dropped vacuum, "let's just be grateful that it's happening."
This is all a lot more complicated than the Megaship is. My console looks a bit similar to the one on board my old home, except that the number of dials and switches are multiplied by, like, fifty. Each system is so much more refined, requires so much more control and deliberation...
"I'm so glad we get to work together!" Kendrix's exclamation jolts me out of my thoughts, and I can't help but smile at her infectious energy. Ironically, though, she reminds me way more of Ashley rather than her actual pink counterpart- "This has to be at least a little similar to operating the Megaship, right?"
"Yeah, it is. The only thing that's confusing me is how many extra buttons there are to do just one function." Kendrix laughs at that, and while I didn't think it was that funny, I start to giggle, too. I'd started working with the GSA not too long ago, so I still depend on her for a few things. Oh, who am I kidding, I'm afraid that I'm going to pester her if I keep asking as many questions as I do.
I nod towards my brother as he walks by, trailed by Leo, who looks like he's hardly paying a bit of attention. As usual. My suspicions are confirmed when the Red Ranger steps over to us, peering at our screens.
"Hey, Leo, how's the training going?"
"Badly!" Good lord. The miniscule part of me that's glad that I can't remember much of our childhood together grows just a tiny bit at his tone, "He has a hard time focusing. Come on." I roll my eyes. And he says I'm the snappy one. A red warning flashes up onto my screen, and I glance at the number on the top right. One of the temperature gauges on our plants is going too high, so I enter a command to spray more water onto it.
"I thought you said you were confused," Kendrix teases, and I raise an eyebrow, even as I keep my focus on the screen to make sure the temperature gets back down to normal levels.
"And I'm surprised you even saw me do that, what with your, ah, interest in Red over there." Her jaw drops, and a smile breaks over my face, not just at her reaction, but at the plant's temperature readings flashing green as well.
"You know, we never did finish that game of truth or dare."
"Oh, be quiet."
"He has no respect for the rules. He's late to everything, his uniform is always wrinkled... I'm going to tell the Commander to let someone else train him," Kai rants as we emerge into the late evening daylight.
"Whoa there, buddy," I protest, holding out my hands in a motion like "stop that".
"Kai, don't you think you're overreacting?" Leave it to the smitten Kendrix to stand up for Leo before I can even say another word, "So he's a little undisciplined, so he doesn't follow all the rules perfectly. When it really matters, he comes through no matter what. Maybe, just maybe, you're a little jealous?"
"Jealous?" I repeat, incredulous.
"Jealous?" Kai echoes, infuriated, "Why? 'Cause he scored high on the written test? Or 'cause he shot out all three bullseyes? I couldn't care less." Damn. In the new recruits I've seen pass through, I haven't heard scores like that. I can't ponder on Leo's skill for too long, though, because the previously pink and purplish sky suddenly turns dark, thunder rumbling in the distance.
"Wow. Now that's a thunderstorm," Kendrix comments, and I rub at my eyes.
"It looks so... real. Sometimes I forget it's not natural."
"Well, you better believe it. The only thing is, I thought there wasn't any rain scheduled for..." A groan leaves my mouth before Kai can even say it, "Leo."
My brother storms off (pun fully intended, he deserves it for his irritating behavior), and Kendrix laughs as I shake my head. "Wow."
I've heard the question "What's the emergency?" way too many times in the past few days. Nevertheless, I prepare myself for what Kai's about to say.
"Scorpius. He stole all the weapons from the GSA weapons dome." Damon's computer starts beeping, and we lean in closer to see the location he's got pulled up.
"There they are, at the power plant!" The mechanic announces, and on Kai's command, we rush back out the door. It takes me a few more moments to wonder where Leo is, and why he's not with us.
I get my answer when we arrive at the plant. The monster hurls Leo into the air, and as the others rush to help him up, I stand in front of him, ready to defend the Red Ranger. Ready to defend all these Rangers, in fact.
"Are you alright?" Kendrix frets, and I move to the side as Leo steps forward.
"I will be, as soon as I get what I came here for."
"Let me handle this, Leo," Kai interrupts, and I glare at him.
"Kai, we've got a better chance if we deal with this together-"
"Hand over those weapons, now!" Ugh. While it isn't atypical for me to not be able to get a word in edgewise, it doesn't mean it's not any less irritating.
"I'm afraid I can't do that. Stingers, get them!"
"Here they come," I warn, bending my knees as I prepare for the onslaught.
"Yeah, let's do it!" Kai shouts, and with that, we charge. A Stingwinger runs at me, but I send it down with a clothesline. As it falls, another takes its place, and I spin, crossing my arms out in front of me to block its punch. Using its own momentum, I shove it back into the creature that'd been approaching and dart away, out of reach of the next Stinger. However, when I do, I'm faced with another opponent, and as it kicks out, I leap over its leg and send a punch into its midsection.
WIth the Stingers cleared out, and my stamina nearly depleted (curse those cryosleep side effects), we rush at the monster.
"Where are you going?" Leo challenges.
"I'm going to destroy you alone now!" As if.
"I made a mistake, but I'm not gonna make another one!" A sign of a leader; owning up to their errors and being willing to repair them. Of course, we follow his lead and unsheath our sabers, and as we pace around our opponent, it cackles gleefully. Not the response I was expecting, but we'll take him down nonetheless.
"The Quasar Sabers! Let's see how fast you are. Ready?"
"Watch out!" Despite my previous experience as a Space Ranger, no amount of time can erase the fear of when an enemy is about to attack. So, spurred on by that fear, I dive to the side, covering my head as the monster shoots at the other Rangers. "Hey! Bugbrain, over here!"
"Kara, what are you-" Damon's question is cut short as, to our horror, their Quasar Sabers are snatched one by one out of their hands.
"You're not what I came here for, Aqua Ranger. My goal was to get these sabers, and four out of six isn't bad!" Horn muses, and I scramble to my feet, joining Leo as he stands, defending the others.
"The Quasar Sabers!"
"They belong to me now!"
Leo and I brace ourselves in unison, Sabers up and ready.
"Not ours!"
"Oh, I just saved the best for last!" Before I can do so much as swing my weapon, Horn pulls Leo in, and I smirk. It only has one tentacle to grab with at a time. So, with a shout, I bring my sword above my head and then slash it down... only for it to do no damage. Leo continues to struggle, and I try one more time, hacking away at the stupid appendage.
"You'll never get this Saber out of my hands!"
"But I'm not letting go, so give it up, Ranger!"
"Never!" Fear pools in the pit of my stomach. This is a familiar tactic. Keep the enemy talking while you prepare for your next move. The fear sends a new bolt of adrenaline bursting through my veins, and I let out another cry, using both hands now as I slash and slash again and again and again-
"Then you'll just have to come along too!" And with that, the tentacle is gone, along with Leo.
I failed.
And the knowledge of what that failure could mean turns my fear into anger.
"Where did you send him?" I hiss, turning to Horn, a plan forming in my mind.
"Kara, be careful!" Kai shouts, and I turn to the others, giving them a single nod.
"Oh, you'll find out soon enough!" Okay, maybe I didn't think this all the way through. But I trust that the others will be fine on their own. Right now, I can't leave another Ranger behind.
So, I brace myself as Horn's teleportation surrounds me.
"It's my fault." Kai's whisper breaks the unusual silence that sits in the Galaxy Rangers' apartment, and the other three turn to him. It's been hard on the Blue Ranger. Not just the past battle, but this entire ordeal; finding his little sister, only to discover that she'd become a Power Ranger herself. Having to process that she'd lost her memories, the memories that they'd shared.
Then, losing her all over again. Not to mention, losing Leo.
"I was too hard on him about losing the blasters. That's why he wouldn't let go of his Saber. And of course my sister- Kara, would go after him. It's not in her nature to leave someone alone like that." The image of his little sister helping him up from where he'd fallen down the hill flashes into his mind. Despite the strawberries on her knees, and the cuts covering her arms, she'd looked out for him, her older brother, first.
And now she's gone. Because of him.
"It's not your fault," Kendrix assures, but Kai can see the horror in her eyes. The fear of losing not only the Red Ranger, but the Aqua Ranger, too.
He makes his decision then, swinging his legs over the side of his bunk, and dashing towards the door. He's got to make this right.
"Where are you going?" Damon questions, and Kai doesn't even think he knows the answer himself.
"To find them."
Horn's magic spits me out on a catwalk high above a bubbling vat of... something I don't want to think about. Instantly, a Stingwinger grabs my arms, cuffing my wrists together. That pretty much gets rid of 50% of the plans I'd had.
"Kara? Why didn't you go with the others?" Leo whispers, and I shake my head. The fact that it's not obvious to him is kind of sad.
"There was no way I was going to leave you behind. The others will be okay, trust me."
I'd never thought I'd see the day where a monster would use my weapon, but here we are: after a brief argument between the two, Horn kicks Scorpio into some crates, picks up our Quasar Sabers, and...
Wait.
The sword is literally moving on its own, pulling Horn's arms this way and that, and I shake my head in amazement.
"I can't control it! Somebody do something!" As Furio sends a blast of his red lightning towards Leo's saber, the sword moves, deflecting the blast, and sends the lightning right into our cuffs. They fall apart almost instantaneously, and I grin, shaking out my arms. Sentient swords. Not bad.
"Good job, Quasar Saber!" Leo and I leap down from the catwalk, and he picks up the others' weapons, tosses me my own, and we go to work. Let me tell you, getting to hit those Stingwingers and actually do damage feels very, very nice. While I'm busy slashing away at the monsters, Leo tosses away a few crates, clearing a getaway path behind us. He's thinking faster, not only worrying about taking the enemy down, especially when we're outnumbered. A sense of something like pride swells in me. "Kara, this way!"
I follow him up until we find a crate to hide behind, and we duck there for a moment. Even while I'm catching my breath, though, Leo rushes over to a stack of metal pipes and takes the chain off of it. Definitely thinking faster. "We can't let them get the Sabers," he explains, voice hushed, and I nod as we run off again.
We haven't run far when we run right into Damon, Maya, Kendrix, and Kai, all holding... our Sabers?
"We managed to 3D print some fakes," Damon explains quickly, and he doesn't need to say anything more for us to switch our real ones with the fake ones.
"Leo and I go alone," I whisper, "watch our backs, though." The others nod their assent, and Leo and I are off.
Stingwingers swarm at the power plant's exit, and I tap my partner's shoulder. "Let's head back towards the entrance, they won't expect us to leave from there." So we turn around and in a few, we're at the entrance, and almost in the clear, too, until we're stopped by-
"Give me those sabers!" Perfect.
"Never!" Leo counters, and just like before, just like when I'd let my team get hurt, Horn raises his weapon.
I am not letting my teammate get hurt over some fake weapons.
"No!" I make it just in time. There was only a slight chance that I would, but my instincts had told me that I needed to try. Burning pain shoots through me, and I cry out, collapsing as Leo rushes to my side.
"Kara, a-are you okay?" And for the first time since I met him, Leo, the Red Ranger, stutters. I almost laugh. He's always so full of bravado that in the rare moments he's not, it's almost strange.
"I'm fine. But we need to finish the job."
I know I'd told Leo that the others would be okay. I was also hoping they'd have a plan of attack. Thankfully, they did. We regroup with Damon, Kai, Maya, and Kendrix, and launch our attack on Horn and Furio, grabbing our Transdaggers while we're at it.
"Nice acrobatics, Rangers, but you're nothing without your Quasar Sabers!"
"Sorry to break it to you, but those were just fakes," Leo announces, and I grin, "Like I said, you'll never get the real ones."
"We switched them with a set of fake ones to trick you into showing us where the Transdaggers were. And thanks to your kind cooperation, now we have both," I continue, a smile growing on my face, "The Quasar Sabers and the Transdaggers."
"Let's see what these can do. Magna Talon!"
"Trans Blaster!"
"Cosma Claw!"
"Delta Daggers!"
"Beta Bow!"
Pulling my two blades apart, I watch as they reveal straps for my arms, as well as handles that I can grab onto while I tear my opponents apart with- "Galaxy Gauntlet!"
Whoa. If I'd had these when I used to spar with Andros, I wouldn't have lost almost every time. No time to dwell on the past, though, because with a shout, Leo leads us into battle.
Despite the added weight, I'm pleasantly surprised to find that my arms are still light as feathers. I slash with my left blade, then my right, cutting down the Stingers that charge at me from both sides.
"Get those weapons back, now!" Furio demands, and in a flash of his trademark red lightning, he's gone.
"But now I have to do it alone!"
"Give up while you still can!"
"Not a chance, not when I can still beat you!" Horn unleashes his lasers, and thankfully this time, we all roll to the side, evading his attack. Still on the ground, Damon fires his blaster, which gives Leo enough time to slice at him.
"Why, I oughta..." Horn growls, and suddenly, he's got his disgustingly long arm wrapped around Leo's neck once more. He's stronger now, though, with yellow lightning crackling down the limb, but Red takes a note out of my book and slashes the hand off of his neck.
Then, we watch as he unsheaths his Quasar Saber, and power hums through the air as it collects in its blade. With a swift downward motion, Leo cuts through Horn, then runs back to us.
"Transdaggers, Solar formation!" I place my dagger, in its normal form, opposite Leo's one in the formation, and the sheer power I'd felt before his attack amplifies immensely.
"Uh oh."
"Transdaggers, fire!" The recoil would be far too strong for just one of us, but with all six, no one budges as a circle of iridescent energy blasts out, knocking Horn back.
"I still have my own secret weapon!" I frown as he pulls out the familiar green liquid, and once he chugs it down, he's in his giant form.
"We need Galactabeasts!" Leo calls, and when the lion Zord appears, he jumps on, already beginning to channel energy for another attack.
I'll admit, it's hard without Andros being the one in Red, the dependable leader who I could go to for anything at all. If I was having problems with Zayne, he'd be the first to know (besides for Cassie, Ashley, or both, if available). If I was stuck with a certain fighting technique, he'd always help me out. And the times when I was hurt, physically or emotionally, he'd be by my side.
So to have someone else, someone less experienced, someone who's practically a stranger to me, in his place... it's so foreign that it almost hurts. But recently, most of all today, Leo has shown me that he can handle these things in his own way. And he may not be the leader that Andros was, but when he releases a fiery attack at Horn, I realize he might just be getting there.