"Cam!" Shane yelled desperately as he and the others rushed into Ninja Opts. They where all out of their Ranger suits and in their Ninja suits. Cam saw Blake holding Tori.
"What happened?" He asked.
"Lothor.." Blake said through the lump in his throat. "He..He tried to get me and Tori jumped in the way." Tears spilled down his cheeks as he looked at her.
"Is there anything you can do?" Dustin asked.
"I can try." Cam said honestly. "Set her down over here." He said moving to the end of the long table in the middle of the room. Blake went over and set her down gently. He knelt down at her side and held onto her hand. Cam looked at him.
"I need you to step back for a bit." He said gently. Blake looked at him as if he had suggested the worst possible thing ever. Hunter went over to his brother and pulled him to his feet, bringing him back to stand with him, Dustin and Shane. Cam hooked up a scanner to the computer and started up a program on the computer. He then slowly walked around Tori, dragging the scanner all over her still form. The room was silent as Tori's vitals where loaded into the computer. He set the scanner down and went to the computer. Blake took this time to resume his spot at Tori's side.
"Give us some good news." Dustin said softly to Cam, staring at his best friend's pale face. Cam's eyes ran over the computer screen.
"There's very little of it." He said sadly. "She's not dead…Yet."
"Well, we have to get her to a hospital." Shane said. Sensei looked at him.
"I am afraid that a hospital would not be able to help her right now." Sensei said sadly, he had seen the screen with his son.
"What do you mean?" Hunter asked.
"Tori's still in there." Cam said, turning to look at the others. "Lothor's blast caused some damage to her body. But her soul, her spirit, her being, is still trapped in there."
"Can't you do something?" Blake said, surprising them all, since he hadn't spoken a word since laying Tori down. "Lothor already stole my parents from me. I am not going to let him take another person I love." He said. They all looked at him, even more surprised. They had all thought what Tori and Blake had was just, well, affection. But apparently, they were wrong.
"The soul can't survive long inside a dead body." Cam said, looking down.
"Then we better work fast." Blake said, looking at him. Cam saw the determination, the sadness, the anger, the love in Blake's eyes. Cam sighed.
"I have no idea where to start." He said defeatedly. Sensei thought for a moment and looked up.
"There may be something that can help her." He said. Cam looked at his father.
"What is it?" He asked. Sensei cast his eyes over at Hunter.
"The crystal you held before, do you still have it?" He asked. Hunter blinked, not understanding what he was getting at.
"No. I dropped it when our parents appeared."
"I thought that thing drains the life away." Dustin said. "We're trying to save her, not kill her." He said. There was a slight edge of anger in his sarcastic tone. Sensei ignored his tone. He knew he was upset right now. He looked at all of the guys.
"Yes, that is true. But its energies can be reversed to restore life." He said.
"How?" Shane asked. Sensei said nothing as he jumped over to a table at the other side of the room where a lot of old scrolls lay. He scurried through the pile, looking for something. He finally emerged from the pile with an old tattered scroll in his paws.
"This holds the secret to changing the crystal's energies." He said. He threw the scroll at them. Shane reached up and grabbed it. "You must hurry." Sensei said. "I'm afraid that Tori may not have much time left."
"We have to take her back to the cavern." Hunter said. Cam nodded, standing up. Blake lifted Tori in his arms.
"Come on." He said. The rangers all left Ninja Opts with Cam. Sensei watched them leave.
"Good luck." He said softly to them.
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Lothor stood at the viewing screen on his ship. He saw the five boys heading to the cavern with the girl's limp and lifeless body.
"So, those Power Punks intend to save their little friend, eh?" He scowled. "Well, we can't have that, now can we?"
"Uncle." Marah said, raising her hand gently. "Why is it so important that she doesn't live?" She asked. Lothor sighed, annoyed at his niece's stupidity and turned to her and Kapri.
"Don't you boneheads know anything?" He asked. "Forces of good, like the Power Rangers, always love and care about each other like a family." He shuddered. "Makes me sick actually. Anyway, their weakness is in that. You take away a member of a family, the others grieve and are inconsolable." He paused, making sure his idiot nieces understood. "Ergo," he continued slowly, "remove a ranger from the 'family', and the others will be too depressed and filled with grief to put up much of a fight against us."
"Ohhhhhh." The two smiled, understanding.
"I get it." Kapri smiled.
"Good." Lothor said.
"So, we're family." Marah said, smiling, thinking they'd finally get their uncle to be nice and appreciative of them for once. "Does that mean that if one of us was 'removed' you would be too depressed and filled with grief to fight?" Lothor looked at her.
"I have to get Zurgane or someone to stop them." He said, changing the topic. He spun around and left the room. Marah's smile faded.
"Hey!" She said. She and Kapri got up and ran after him. "Uncle!" They whined.
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"Do you remember where you dropped it?" Cam asked Hunter exasperated. He, Hunter, Shane and Dustin where looking around the Cavern of Lost Souls searching for the crystal. Blake sat to the side of the cave, holding Tori close to him.
"If I remembered, do you think I'd be on my hands and knees searching for it?" Hunter asked. Dustin sighed and kicked at any dirt or loose ground.
"Where could it be? Dudes, this could take forever."
"All right, next time I see the ghosts of my adopted parents, I'll remember to put anything I'm holding in my pocket, instead of just dropping it out of sheer shock, all right?" Hunter growled.
"No one's saying this is your fault, Hunter." Shane sighed.
"Can you guys just shut up and keep looking?" Blake snapped. "We may not have a lot of time left." He sighed and leaned back. Something sharp poked into his behind. "Ow." He said. He tilted sideways to see what was there.
"What's wrong?" Hunter asked.
"There's something here." Blake said. He placed a hand on the ground and pulled out the sharp object. He looked at it. His eyes widened a little. "Guys, I think I found the crystal." The others went over to him.
"Great." Cam said. He took the crystal from him and unrolled the scroll his father gave them. Just then, something appeared in the tunnel leading to the cave. "What the…"
"Hey everybody, ya miss me?" Came a voice. They all looked up to see the vine creature again.
"Oh, this is just great." Shane muttered.
"Don't you ever go away?" Blake growled in frustration.
"Lothor doesn't want the pretty little ranger alive, so I'm here to stop you." The creature said joyously.
"Don't think so." Hunter said, tightening his jaw.
"Cam, think you can take care of the crystal and Tori while we distract the freak?" Shane asked.
"Yeah." Cam nodded.
"All right." Shane said. He looked at Dustin. "Ready?"
"Always." The two stood up. "Ninja Storm, Ranger Form!" They yelled as they morphed into their ranger suits. Hunter looked at Blake, who was still holding onto Tori. He grabbed his brother's shoulder.
"Come on, Cam will take care of her." He said. Blake hesitantly let her go as Hunter pulled him to his feet. "Thunder Storm, Ranger Form!" The two brothers called out as they morphed.
"You think your colored suits will defeat me?" The creature taunted.
"No, but these will." Shane said as he and Dustin brandished their Ninja Swords and Hunter and Blake brandished their lances.
"We've got to try to get him outside." Blake said. "Away from Tori and Cam."
"Right." Hunter said. They closed in on the monster, making him back up.
"Hey!" The monster yelled. "Back off!"
"Yeah, right." Dustin said. Soon, they all managed to get him out of the cave, leaving Cam to do his work with the crystal.
"You can't defeat me." The creature taunted.
"You wanna bet on that?" Dustin said as he charged at the creature with his Ninja Sword. The creature lashed one of his vines out and grabbed Dustin around the waist. "Arg!" Dustin grunted. The creature flung Dustin back.
"What were you saying?" The creature taunted. "Ah!" He exclaimed as he felt two sharp pains in his back. He fell forward to reveal Hunter and Blake who had gotten behind the creature when he flung Dustin back. Shane went over to his friend and helped him up.
"Dude, you all right?" He asked. Dustin nodded.
"Man, that plant is mulch!" Dustin growled as he dusted himself off.
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Cam sighed as he set the crystal on Tori's chest so as not to loose it in the dirt again. He looked at the scroll ready to change the crystal's energies when a green glow caught his eye. He looked up to see the crystal starting to light up, reacting to the young girl it was placed upon. Cam's eyes widened slightly. He pushed his glasses up and stumbled back instintivly as a green glow surrounded Tori's body.
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The creature cried out as he stumbled back. He was getting the beating of his life from the four rangers.
"That's it, I'm out of here." He said. And with that he vanished.
"Come on, let's go check on Cam." Shane said. They all went back to the cave and saw Cam crawling back from Tori's body, which was currently surrounded by a glowing green orb.
"What's going on?" Blake demanded.
"I don't know, I just set the crystal down, and that started happening."
"Did you reverse the energies?" Dustin asked. Cam shook his head.
"I did nothing, it just started doing that." Blake's eyes widened.
"You didn't reverse the energies?! You're killing her!" He ran over to Tori.
"Blake, wait!" Hunter said. Blake didn't listen as he tried to get to Tori. The moment he came in contact with the orb, he was flung back by an unseen force.
"Blake!" Hunter went to his brother's side as Blake pulled himself to his feet. "What happened?" Hunter asked.
"I don't know." Blake said. "But…Something felt weird about that orb.." His voice trailed off.
"What do you mean weird?" Shane asked. Blake looked at them.
"It felt like it was helping her…" Blake muttered. Cam looked at him.
"What?"
"The energies……They reversed themselves…" Blake said, although he was just as confused as the others.
"That's good, right?" Dustin said uncertainly. Cam looked over the scroll.
"There's nothing here about….." He paused. "Never mind." He muttered.
"What?" Shane asked.
"It says here 'with unnatural circumstances such as death at the hands of powerful unnatural beings, if the soul still resides in the spirit of the dead, the crystal shall reverse itself and heal the wounded'." Cam looked up. "The crystal changed it's own energies."
"So, she's going to be ok?" Hunter asked.
"Let's hope so." Cam said. They all watched. Suddenly the orb fizzled and sparked as it died down. The others stood back for a moment. Tori didn't move. Blake went to her.
"Tori?" He asked as he shook her gently. She wasn't responsive. He touched her neck. There was no pulse. Blake gasped. He looked at the others. "There's no pulse.." He whispered. They were all shocked. How could this not have worked? Cam blinked several times.
"We……We were to late….." Cam said sadly.
"What happened?" He asked.
"Lothor.." Blake said through the lump in his throat. "He..He tried to get me and Tori jumped in the way." Tears spilled down his cheeks as he looked at her.
"Is there anything you can do?" Dustin asked.
"I can try." Cam said honestly. "Set her down over here." He said moving to the end of the long table in the middle of the room. Blake went over and set her down gently. He knelt down at her side and held onto her hand. Cam looked at him.
"I need you to step back for a bit." He said gently. Blake looked at him as if he had suggested the worst possible thing ever. Hunter went over to his brother and pulled him to his feet, bringing him back to stand with him, Dustin and Shane. Cam hooked up a scanner to the computer and started up a program on the computer. He then slowly walked around Tori, dragging the scanner all over her still form. The room was silent as Tori's vitals where loaded into the computer. He set the scanner down and went to the computer. Blake took this time to resume his spot at Tori's side.
"Give us some good news." Dustin said softly to Cam, staring at his best friend's pale face. Cam's eyes ran over the computer screen.
"There's very little of it." He said sadly. "She's not dead…Yet."
"Well, we have to get her to a hospital." Shane said. Sensei looked at him.
"I am afraid that a hospital would not be able to help her right now." Sensei said sadly, he had seen the screen with his son.
"What do you mean?" Hunter asked.
"Tori's still in there." Cam said, turning to look at the others. "Lothor's blast caused some damage to her body. But her soul, her spirit, her being, is still trapped in there."
"Can't you do something?" Blake said, surprising them all, since he hadn't spoken a word since laying Tori down. "Lothor already stole my parents from me. I am not going to let him take another person I love." He said. They all looked at him, even more surprised. They had all thought what Tori and Blake had was just, well, affection. But apparently, they were wrong.
"The soul can't survive long inside a dead body." Cam said, looking down.
"Then we better work fast." Blake said, looking at him. Cam saw the determination, the sadness, the anger, the love in Blake's eyes. Cam sighed.
"I have no idea where to start." He said defeatedly. Sensei thought for a moment and looked up.
"There may be something that can help her." He said. Cam looked at his father.
"What is it?" He asked. Sensei cast his eyes over at Hunter.
"The crystal you held before, do you still have it?" He asked. Hunter blinked, not understanding what he was getting at.
"No. I dropped it when our parents appeared."
"I thought that thing drains the life away." Dustin said. "We're trying to save her, not kill her." He said. There was a slight edge of anger in his sarcastic tone. Sensei ignored his tone. He knew he was upset right now. He looked at all of the guys.
"Yes, that is true. But its energies can be reversed to restore life." He said.
"How?" Shane asked. Sensei said nothing as he jumped over to a table at the other side of the room where a lot of old scrolls lay. He scurried through the pile, looking for something. He finally emerged from the pile with an old tattered scroll in his paws.
"This holds the secret to changing the crystal's energies." He said. He threw the scroll at them. Shane reached up and grabbed it. "You must hurry." Sensei said. "I'm afraid that Tori may not have much time left."
"We have to take her back to the cavern." Hunter said. Cam nodded, standing up. Blake lifted Tori in his arms.
"Come on." He said. The rangers all left Ninja Opts with Cam. Sensei watched them leave.
"Good luck." He said softly to them.
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Lothor stood at the viewing screen on his ship. He saw the five boys heading to the cavern with the girl's limp and lifeless body.
"So, those Power Punks intend to save their little friend, eh?" He scowled. "Well, we can't have that, now can we?"
"Uncle." Marah said, raising her hand gently. "Why is it so important that she doesn't live?" She asked. Lothor sighed, annoyed at his niece's stupidity and turned to her and Kapri.
"Don't you boneheads know anything?" He asked. "Forces of good, like the Power Rangers, always love and care about each other like a family." He shuddered. "Makes me sick actually. Anyway, their weakness is in that. You take away a member of a family, the others grieve and are inconsolable." He paused, making sure his idiot nieces understood. "Ergo," he continued slowly, "remove a ranger from the 'family', and the others will be too depressed and filled with grief to put up much of a fight against us."
"Ohhhhhh." The two smiled, understanding.
"I get it." Kapri smiled.
"Good." Lothor said.
"So, we're family." Marah said, smiling, thinking they'd finally get their uncle to be nice and appreciative of them for once. "Does that mean that if one of us was 'removed' you would be too depressed and filled with grief to fight?" Lothor looked at her.
"I have to get Zurgane or someone to stop them." He said, changing the topic. He spun around and left the room. Marah's smile faded.
"Hey!" She said. She and Kapri got up and ran after him. "Uncle!" They whined.
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"Do you remember where you dropped it?" Cam asked Hunter exasperated. He, Hunter, Shane and Dustin where looking around the Cavern of Lost Souls searching for the crystal. Blake sat to the side of the cave, holding Tori close to him.
"If I remembered, do you think I'd be on my hands and knees searching for it?" Hunter asked. Dustin sighed and kicked at any dirt or loose ground.
"Where could it be? Dudes, this could take forever."
"All right, next time I see the ghosts of my adopted parents, I'll remember to put anything I'm holding in my pocket, instead of just dropping it out of sheer shock, all right?" Hunter growled.
"No one's saying this is your fault, Hunter." Shane sighed.
"Can you guys just shut up and keep looking?" Blake snapped. "We may not have a lot of time left." He sighed and leaned back. Something sharp poked into his behind. "Ow." He said. He tilted sideways to see what was there.
"What's wrong?" Hunter asked.
"There's something here." Blake said. He placed a hand on the ground and pulled out the sharp object. He looked at it. His eyes widened a little. "Guys, I think I found the crystal." The others went over to him.
"Great." Cam said. He took the crystal from him and unrolled the scroll his father gave them. Just then, something appeared in the tunnel leading to the cave. "What the…"
"Hey everybody, ya miss me?" Came a voice. They all looked up to see the vine creature again.
"Oh, this is just great." Shane muttered.
"Don't you ever go away?" Blake growled in frustration.
"Lothor doesn't want the pretty little ranger alive, so I'm here to stop you." The creature said joyously.
"Don't think so." Hunter said, tightening his jaw.
"Cam, think you can take care of the crystal and Tori while we distract the freak?" Shane asked.
"Yeah." Cam nodded.
"All right." Shane said. He looked at Dustin. "Ready?"
"Always." The two stood up. "Ninja Storm, Ranger Form!" They yelled as they morphed into their ranger suits. Hunter looked at Blake, who was still holding onto Tori. He grabbed his brother's shoulder.
"Come on, Cam will take care of her." He said. Blake hesitantly let her go as Hunter pulled him to his feet. "Thunder Storm, Ranger Form!" The two brothers called out as they morphed.
"You think your colored suits will defeat me?" The creature taunted.
"No, but these will." Shane said as he and Dustin brandished their Ninja Swords and Hunter and Blake brandished their lances.
"We've got to try to get him outside." Blake said. "Away from Tori and Cam."
"Right." Hunter said. They closed in on the monster, making him back up.
"Hey!" The monster yelled. "Back off!"
"Yeah, right." Dustin said. Soon, they all managed to get him out of the cave, leaving Cam to do his work with the crystal.
"You can't defeat me." The creature taunted.
"You wanna bet on that?" Dustin said as he charged at the creature with his Ninja Sword. The creature lashed one of his vines out and grabbed Dustin around the waist. "Arg!" Dustin grunted. The creature flung Dustin back.
"What were you saying?" The creature taunted. "Ah!" He exclaimed as he felt two sharp pains in his back. He fell forward to reveal Hunter and Blake who had gotten behind the creature when he flung Dustin back. Shane went over to his friend and helped him up.
"Dude, you all right?" He asked. Dustin nodded.
"Man, that plant is mulch!" Dustin growled as he dusted himself off.
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Cam sighed as he set the crystal on Tori's chest so as not to loose it in the dirt again. He looked at the scroll ready to change the crystal's energies when a green glow caught his eye. He looked up to see the crystal starting to light up, reacting to the young girl it was placed upon. Cam's eyes widened slightly. He pushed his glasses up and stumbled back instintivly as a green glow surrounded Tori's body.
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The creature cried out as he stumbled back. He was getting the beating of his life from the four rangers.
"That's it, I'm out of here." He said. And with that he vanished.
"Come on, let's go check on Cam." Shane said. They all went back to the cave and saw Cam crawling back from Tori's body, which was currently surrounded by a glowing green orb.
"What's going on?" Blake demanded.
"I don't know, I just set the crystal down, and that started happening."
"Did you reverse the energies?" Dustin asked. Cam shook his head.
"I did nothing, it just started doing that." Blake's eyes widened.
"You didn't reverse the energies?! You're killing her!" He ran over to Tori.
"Blake, wait!" Hunter said. Blake didn't listen as he tried to get to Tori. The moment he came in contact with the orb, he was flung back by an unseen force.
"Blake!" Hunter went to his brother's side as Blake pulled himself to his feet. "What happened?" Hunter asked.
"I don't know." Blake said. "But…Something felt weird about that orb.." His voice trailed off.
"What do you mean weird?" Shane asked. Blake looked at them.
"It felt like it was helping her…" Blake muttered. Cam looked at him.
"What?"
"The energies……They reversed themselves…" Blake said, although he was just as confused as the others.
"That's good, right?" Dustin said uncertainly. Cam looked over the scroll.
"There's nothing here about….." He paused. "Never mind." He muttered.
"What?" Shane asked.
"It says here 'with unnatural circumstances such as death at the hands of powerful unnatural beings, if the soul still resides in the spirit of the dead, the crystal shall reverse itself and heal the wounded'." Cam looked up. "The crystal changed it's own energies."
"So, she's going to be ok?" Hunter asked.
"Let's hope so." Cam said. They all watched. Suddenly the orb fizzled and sparked as it died down. The others stood back for a moment. Tori didn't move. Blake went to her.
"Tori?" He asked as he shook her gently. She wasn't responsive. He touched her neck. There was no pulse. Blake gasped. He looked at the others. "There's no pulse.." He whispered. They were all shocked. How could this not have worked? Cam blinked several times.
"We……We were to late….." Cam said sadly.