Chapter 3.  Back in the saddle

The night was more restless than they'd been lately and Dana decided it had to be caused by her nerves about testing the new zord out.  It had been so long

sinc they'd been in the drivers seats that she didn't even know if any but Joel remembered what to do.  As the thought of crashing into the earth didn't

exactly appeal to Dana now she said a little preyer and hoped her parents would be watching out for her today.  Since her dad had died she'd felt him from

time to time and it made things easier sometimes.  that and ryan's presence was the reason that she was still sane after all that had happened.

Now climbingh from bed the one time pink ranger showered, dressed and again preyed, this time for strength.

Dana barely made it out her door before she ran into her brother.  he was already wide awake and looked raring to go.  Luckily the dreams hadn't been loud

enough to wake him for once.

"Ready for the test?"the once more  grey clad man asked and she wondered how the color had been left behind with the end of their ranger days.  It was as

much a part of him as his blond hair or silver eyes.

"As ready as ever." Dana Muttered shrugging.

"Come on it won't be that bad. You liked being a ranger." He reminded her.

"Wrong I love saving people. I hated the fear that came whenever we fought a monster, the knowledge that if anything happened to any of us the demons would

have won." She

retorted truthefully.

"Then there was your worry about letting dad down." He added and she nodded sadly.  That wasn't a problem anymore, he was gone.

"The one thing I always had was his approval, I just didn't know." They reached the turn off to Ryan's office. He didn't stop though. So she figured he

was going for breakfast in the galley.

"So what are you up to today?" She asked him.

"Well I'm doing last minute checks on the new team." He said and she nodded.

"When are you going to recruit them?"

"Well, we've talked about waiting until it begins but Carter thinks we should call them in early that way they can be a little more comfortable around

each other before they have to fight."

"Good idea." She nodded.

"I was going to ask if you'd come with me tomorrow to do it. You've recruited rangers before and know how to handle any reluctance." He said and she frowned.

"Ryan you can do anything I can do. Besides I've got a ton to do."

"Come on Dane, you haven't even left the base in more than three weeks. It's not healthy sis, you need to get out." Ryan said as they neared the lab.

"It's called work." She said and Ryan followed her inside. She was too busy to ask about it as Angela approached.

"I have everything ready. You'll drive it out to the hills west of town and run through a series of exercises." The scientist informed her.

Dana took her old morpher in hand and was surprised when Ryan climbed into an armored truck like vehicle. There was not a chance to ask as the pink ranger

switched on the communications consol.

"Alright Dana you know what to do." Angela called so the pink ranger began punching the standard sequence of commands.

Over 3 hours later the head of the medical department was not thinking about paperwork or anything but avoiding Ryan's blasts.

"The shields are holding up great. Now for the new features. Type in sonic serge." Angela called and as soon as she did a hypodermic looking laser extended

from the right flasher.

"Hey sis up for some target practice?" The Titanium ranger called and moving asked and his high beams shot out small silver missiles right towards her.

She took out everyone of them.

"Nice to see you're as sharp as ever." A new voice called and the pink ranger was a little surprised to see Pyro rescue coming over a nearby rise.

"Carter?"Dana asked and hated the slightly breathless tone to her voice.  What wsa wrong with her?  He was a ranger too.  he was their boss he had every

right to be there.

"We need to see just how well they work together." Angela called.

"Not to mention the cool part." The titanium ranger said and once his one time leader was there he called.

"Time to test the ground force Megazord."

The pink ranger watched as her brother's zord did a little shifting and split in to the legs.

"Wow." She said in awe.

"Dana hit GFM." Angela called and the pink ranger did and waited as hers went airborne forming the body.

"Carter you're up!" The scientist called and he was transforming even as his zord flaw through the air, landing atop hers. She had to watch on her side

monitor as Pyro rescue +a split in 3, The two outer sides forcing the arms as the center slid in place as the head.

Then the pink ranger felt her seat being elevated. It was incredible. It wasn't as scary as she'd have thought. As soon as her seat slid into place to the

red ranger's left, she felt as if she were herself again.

"Hey fancy meeting you here! The yellow ranger called as the new haze rescue came rolling over another hill.

"Cute." Dana laughed and it was a real laugh. Carter watched her eyes sparkling for the first time in a long time.

"The sky cowboy is back in the saddle!"

"Show off!" the blue ranger called joining the party in his rebuilt zord.

"You know it!" The green ranger called and Dana just bet there was a smirk on his face.

"Hey hot dogs we got a job to do!" The green ranger called and he too was laughing at the antics of the others.

"Right!" The three called and began moving into Sky rescue mode.

It hadn't been a planned exercise for the six zords to go out but when Joel had suggested it to her that morning Angela had liked it. Even Carter didn't

know about it so she could just bet he was surprised.

"Now what?"

"How about a little sparring!" The red ranger called and with in minutes the megazords were engaged in a harsh looking mock-battle.

*****

"Well, I have to get back to work." Dana said returning her old morpher to the box where they were all kept.

"Yeah me too, I have to double check a few more things for tomorrow." Ryan said and Chad and his wife nodded.

"We have to get back to the park; I have to prep for tonight's stunt show." Kelsey said.

"Yeah I have work too." Carter said and they all left Joel with his wife.

"Well?" Angela asked.

"She was right on the money." The sky cowboy grinned.

"I thought so, and she was laughing."

"Yup, I told you just gotta trust me." He said grinning at his wife.

"You're just so sneaky." She kissed him forgetting the technicians.

"Darlin, you know you love it."