"I still can't believe I came down with the flu while you guys went on an entire rescue mission. Not to mention, you found a mystical book!"
"You needed your rest," Kendrix replies, keeping her gaze focused onto said Galaxy Book, "We had everything covered, although Kai was worried sick." Brothers.
"I'm not surprised. Thanks to that, though..." I fiddle with the bracelet around my wrist, "It's imbued with a little bit of my telepathy. Kai has the other side, so if he's ever in trouble, I'll know." I've had a lot of time on my hands, obviously. The week or so that I'd been out sick had been more than enough time for me to sort through the medley of feelings I've been experiencing. I'd be lying if I said I still didn't miss my old team terribly, and I'd also be telling a huge fib if I said I hadn't been replaying Leo's compliment in my head. The look in his eyes had been guarded, and when I try to remember if he'd sent any emotions down our link, nothing comes to mind.
"Kara? Hey, are you in there?" I shake my head, clearing my wacky thoughts.
"Yeah. Sorry, what did you need?" Kendrix points towards a certain phrase on the page she's looking at.
"Could you plug this into the translator? See if we can match up these symbols and pull up a meaning?" Right. Like the same exact thing we'd been doing for the past six hours since we started our shift.
"Coming right up." My fingers fly across the keyboard, pulling up each symbol in the exact order they're written down on in the book, but when I press enter, I'm once again left with an invalid message. "Ugh. This is starting to give me a massive head-"
"Whoa," Kendrix murmurs, and I glance over at the page she's stopped on.
"Whoa is right, 'Drix. Aren't those…"
"The Galactabeasts." The alarm on my laptop goes off, startling me, and Kendrix slams the book closed, almost onto her own fingers. "We're done already?"
"Guess so," I glance around furtively, "Time goes by faster when we're actually doing something cool." The blonde frowns at me, and I cringe. Maybe the wrong thing to say to a science buff? "I mean… we always do cool stuff!"
"That's more like it." She sets the book aside. "Come on. I think we have something to talk about."
"I don't like him. Honestly, the thought kinda repulses me a little bit." Maya and Kendrix nod slowly, each taking bites of their pizza slices, "Do you not believe me?"
"Erm," Kendrix begins, and I glance at her, gesturing at her to keep going, "hypothetically speaking, if there was stuff we share between each of us, as sort of a 'people who didn't emerge from cryosleep' thing-"
"Gee, thanks. Making me feel old over here," I joke, and she rolls her eyes playfully.
"Would you believe us?"
"Well, yeah. It's the same if my old team were to be here. There's stuff that'd make sense for me to share with them and not with you guys."
"Okay, good," Maya takes up the conversation, "I'm going to preface this by saying that Leo didn't swear us to secrecy over this, so…" Kendrix snorts out a giggle so bizarre, I'm afraid she'll choke on her bite of crust.
"So? C'mon, spit it out, M." She doesn't say a peep, instead raising both eyebrows at me in disbelief.
"I'm beginning to think I should rescind my vote on 'most observant' for you, Kar," the brunette replies, "because how have you not seen how he looks at you?" Okay, I've noticed that. But I've always made it out to be platonic, not… not…
"I mean. Well. I've seen it. Maybe I just misinterpreted it?" Kendrix finishes up her slice and stands, going over to the sink and rinsing her greasy hands.
"Dunno. I just know that he's been different recently." This sounds way too much like when Cassie and Ashley had found out I liked Zayne, and I hate that it does. Just like I can't imagine the team without Leo, I also can't imagine being with him. The idea isn't as distasteful as I'd made it out to be, but at the same time… "I'm heading back to the science division."
"Okay, bring your water bottle," I remind her.
"And don't come home too late!" Maya adds.
"Yeah, yeah. Okay moms," Kendrix retorts, and I laugh. "See you guys when I get home!"
"Do you know what time it is?" Maya scolds as soon as we step foot into the sci div.
"What happened to 'see you guys when I get home'?" I add.
"I didn't realize," Kendrix replies before breaking out into a yawn. "Is everything okay?"
"I don't know," Maya admits, hopping onto the desk next to Kendrix as I pull up my own chair. "There's something in the air. It's that same feeling I had when we found the Galactabeasts." Kendrix nods, as if she'd expected this, almost, and grabs a torn page of the book.
"Guys, take a look at this."
"What is it?" Maya asks, and my jaw drops.
"No way. This is the other piece of the page we saw earlier today!"
"Precisely. These are our five Galactabeasts," she pauses, placing the torn page down neatly. "These are three more."
"That's what I've been sensing! They must be close-"
I don't hear what they say next, because my bracelet begins to burn against my skin. Grasping at my arm, I wiggle it around, hissing in pain. Okay, I definitely didn't put enough power into it to make it do that-
"Kara, are you-"
"Kai's in trouble."
As soon as the door to the guys' room slides open, I rush inside, spotting Leo standing at Kai's empty bunk.
"L, please tell me my brother's here." All awkwardness from the past week or so's thrown out the window in the face of this situation. It hasn't even been a year since I first reunited with my idiot brother, and if I were to lose him again...
"No, he's not. What's wrong?" I hold up my bracelet, which still glows red and painful from the power exuding from it. The skin burns beneath the metal, and I curse the fact that we'd gotten these welded. Leo grabs my arm, brushing his fingers against my wrist, and I can't help but blush. "I figured. Dude never burns his cooking, after all." He pauses, and for a moment, we stand in silence. Then, "Here." My first in command steadies his breathing, then places his entire hand over the bracelet. His jaw pulses as he grits his teeth against the pain, but after a few seconds, he relaxes. The metal stops burning, returning to its normal state, and I gape at him.
"Whoa there, Red. How'd you do that?" Leo grins his stupid cheeky (gorgeous) grin.
"I've got control over fire, right? Had a hunch it applied to heat, too." I raise an eyebrow.
"A hunch."
"Mhm." The door slides open, and it's only then that I realize his grip has slipped down to my hand. And that neither of us have let go. We jump apart before Maya comes dashing into the room, and I make a show of checking the clasp on my bracelet.
"Okay, Kai's definitely in trouble," she observes after sniffing the air.
"He didn't show up for his shift in command, either. He's never missed a shift," Kendrix reports, and I swallow the nausea rising up in my throat. I can't lose him again. I won't.
"Kai," Leo says into his com. "Damon." Damon's gone, too. The first two people I'd met after awakening from cryosleep. Fuck.
"Let's go," I murmur, voice low and shaky, and we race out the door.
As we zoom through the stars in our Jet Jammers, all the memories of these past few months come flooding back. My first meeting with Kai, him pulling me into a hug. When he'd comforted me when I'd realized my last link to my old team was gone. Hell, even all of our disagreements. I wouldn't trade a single moment with him for anything, and the prospect of not being able to make more memories with my older brother urges me forward.
Breathe, K. They need you to be steady.
I'm trying, Leo, but it's… I cringe. It's scary. I'm really fucking scared.
His telepathic communication is silent for a moment. It'll be okay, Kara. Please trust me.
Leo's words carry more weight than they ever have before, and I glance over at where he flies at the front of our group. I trust him more than I trust myself, and that's because of this bond we share. Sometimes, I feel like he knows me even more than I know me, and because of that, I let my defenses down.
"I've got a lock on their energy signatures!" Maya's report snaps me out of my disgustingly sentimental thoughts, and I nod. "Sending the coordinates now. Let's do this thing."
A few moments later, we've entered the atmosphere of the new planet, and just as the Stingwingers are about to finish off an injured Kai and Damon, we unleash our laser blasts. I'm the first to leap off of my Jet Jammer, and ignoring the flock of enemies in front of me, I run to Kai. Despite it all, tears stream down my cheeks as I help him up.
"Never ever scare me like that again. Please."
"I won't. Promise."
"Let's take these guys out," Leo orders, and I nod.
"Oh, gladly." Then, I leap into battle. Dragging my Saber along the sand, I dash through the crowd of Stingwingers, throwing dust up into their eyes. While they're blinded, I make quick work of them, stabbing and slashing until they hit the ground. Now the only one left is the monster Mike and Maya had been facing off against. Alpha'd informed us that his name is Deviot, but other than that, his origin is unknown.
"Ready guys?"
"As I'll ever be," I mutter. "Lights of Orion, activate!" If Deviot had a face, I know he'd be smirking based on the tone of his voice.
"Give it your best shot."
"Power-Up Mode!" Lightning crackles around the robot, and I spin, bracing myself for him to Giantify himself. But that's not what happens. Instead, he begins to cackle, holding a small remote above his head. The thing glows and shakes with an immense amount of power, and I almost expect it to explode then and there.
"You thought you were going to destroy me, but instead, you gave me the energy I needed! Behold, as I call upon the most powerful Zords in the universe. They will follow my every command. Stratoforce, Centaurus, arise!"
I've only ever been able to feel power after it reached a certain threshold, and the amount that the two Zords emit is insane. The sheer energy they release is enough to make my head whirl, and I almost have to look away. "This doesn't look good," Mike mutters.
"Destroy the Power Rangers!" The blasts that follow hurt like hell, even when I throw up a hasty telekinetic shield around us.
"Galactabeasts, arise!"
"Torozord, charge!"
"Zords, transform now! Galaxy Megazord, transform. Power-Up Mode!" Leo's pulling out all the stops right off the bat, so he knows how outgunned we are. Good. Overconfidence would have gotten us killed on the spot.
Unfortunately, I think that might still happen, since in the next moment, our Zords come to a standstill.
"What's going on?" Kendrix questions.
"We're shutting down!" Damon reports, and I frown.
"I don't get it, what's happening?" We're barely even able to dodge out of the way of Stratoforce's attack, but Centaurus comes after us next. Its strikes pummel us to the ground, enough so that we're unable to defend when it sends another blast our way.
"Why won't the Megazord fight back?" Maya shouts.
"If we knew, we'd be out of this mess."
Suddenly, the two Megazords raise their weapons, and I press a hand to my console. If this works…
"I'm going to need you to work with me on this one, friend," I whisper to my Snake Zord, and in the back of my mind, I hear my Galactabeast hiss its response. "Sonar Shield, full power!" Every single ounce of telekinesis I have left flows into my Zord, and a shield envelops both Mike's Zord and our Megazord.
The shields shatter upon impact, and I let out the breath I've been holding, exhaustion swamping over me. No such luck, but at least the shields had gone up. It'd have been even better if they'd worked, though.
However, to my utter confusion, the Zords turn around, heading back to where they'd come from.
"Why're they leaving?"
"Wakey wakey!" I jolt up and proceed to smack my head on the ceiling of Kai's bunk.
"Ow! Why'd you have to scare me like that?" Damon clutches at his stomach as he bursts into laughter, and I glare at him.
"Figured I should wake you up. It's almost seven, and if I let you keep sleeping, you'd never be able to fall asleep at, I don't know, a normal time tonight." He bows. "Consider yourself granted a night of good sleep."
"I dislike you."
"Love you too, Kara!" The mechanic hoists a backpack over his casual clothes, and I swing my legs over the side of Kai's bunk. Guess I'd crashed here by accident when we got back. "I'm heading out to grab some spare parts. Leo'll be back with dinner-"
The door slides open, and the Red Ranger himself steps in. "Now, I guess. I'll see you guys later!"
"If you pull a Kendrix, I'll literally hunt you down, mechanic!" I call after him, but he does nothing except flip me off. Lovely.
"Hey. Didn't realize you were still here," Leo greets, placing the styrofoam containers onto the counter. By the smell of it, it's Thai food. Exactly like I was craving. Nice.
"Yep. I'll stick around until Damon gets back." The brunette raises an eyebrow.
"What about Kai and Kendrix?" I scoff.
"Those two are workaholics. If I waited up for them, I'd be staying the night." We chuckle, but then an awkward silence settles between us. Damn. Moments like this have never been uncomfortable for us.
"I wouldn't have minded if you did." For absolutely no reason, Leo's words send my brain into panic mode, and I immediately rush to lock down my thoughts and confusing emotions.
"Ah. Well, you might want to reconsider, since I'm about to eat all of your food-"
"If you do that, you're banned from our room for a week," Mike says by way of greeting as he steps into the room. "Hey, guys. Just got off of my shift."
Thank God.
"Okay, okay, fine. Just let me have the first bite?" I attempt my best pleading gaze at the brothers, and for the shortest second, Leo looks like he's about to faint. Mike just looks irritated (I hope it's a playful irritated). "I'll take that as a yes." With that, I open up the styrofoam lid and eat a forkful of pad thai. "Thanks. You guys are the best."
Mike starts cracking up at my garbled words, and Leo follows suit, and soon, we're all laughing, the tension between Leo and I once again faded into the background.