Special thanks to Lady Lightspeed for the help writing the fight scene. I'm really not very good with that kind of thing.
Chapter 5. From bad to worse
Sitting there in the storeroom the pair had lapsed into companionable silence, both lost in their own thoughts. That was why when Ryan spoke up for the again Kelsey jumped slightly.
"Are you hungry?"
"Hungry?" Kelsey asked a little surprised by that too.
"Yeah, I haven't been all that hungry lately but right now I think I could eat a horse." He told her making Kelsey laugh.
"You sound like me after our first training mission." She admitted.
'Really?"
"Yeah, I wasn't exactly used to blasters or anything like that, rock climbing or water skiing was more my speed so I really worked up an apatite." She explained.
"But how does that happy here?"
"Well, the way I see it is you aren't used to doing the family thing, you know fighting with Dana so there you go." She reasoned and he thought about that. In some elaborate way her reasoning made sense.
"Alright, well do you want dinner or not?"
"Actually I do." She smiled and in a cat like move was on the floor and reaching for the door.
"Woe, talk about fast." He joked. It struck Kelsey it was his first joke and that made her feel good. She'd gotten him to do that.
***
Dana closed the book and slumped back in her seat. The reading room was silent. She'd not noticed that before. Sighing she looked back at the stack of a cult Tomes she'd yet to look through. She'd come to the Mariner Bay centennial library hoping to find something on the tattoo that Diabolico had given her brother. So far all she had was a headache.
Glancing at her watch Dana noted it was nearly nine. She sighed. The library closed in an hour so she'd keep going. The more things she looked through the more of a chance she had to find the cure. She'd not lose her brother, not now that she had him back. So she'd better stop thinking of her bed and how soft her pillow would be.
It occurred to her that if she drank some coffee it might help so she rose and stretched before heading for the vending machines out in the hall. She was very thankful to the blessed soul who'd thought to place such a marvelous contraption there.
She dropped some change into the slot and made a selection. Normally she was not a coffee drinker but she was on a very important mission. When the little bell chimed she opened the compartment and withdrew a styrophoam cup. The cup wasn't even hot but it was caffeine and that was what she needed right now.
The blow was so unexpected that it had her doubled over in pain. She saw then the demonic figure and gasping in pain she reached for her morpher, but she'd taken it off some time ago to massage her wrist that had been bruised in an earlier battle. The next blow caught her across the face.
***
As he climbed from the rover Carter Grayson looked up and down the sidewalk outside the library. The area was oddly deserted for a weekday night.
Pulling his jacket closer he moved into the welcoming warmth of the building. Carter found the halls also oddly empty and frowned; He knew that she didn't want anyone else to know what she was doing. She wouldn't even have told him anything but He'd come across her earlier in her room.
Carter was starting to worry about her. Since they had a lot of things in common they'd become good friends but she was not walking back to the dock. Not with out the delicateness of the subject she was researching. Heavens if she'd let him he'd have gone with her earlier but she'd been right that the others would start wondering about everyone.
*****
Dana rolled away from the blast and was back on her feet again in a single motion as she saw the staff shift into a lightsabor-like blade.
"Did you honestly think we'd let you do this pink ranger?" Diabolico sneered. She ignored his chatter, moving as fast as she could to avoid the new weapon. With her head still pounding and her stomach still aching from his first attack, she was not as fast as she should have been. Ryan would chew her from there to kingdom come if he saw this now
Dana knew that she could take this creep if she wasn't so tired but she'd have to do her best. She had to find a cure.
The monster moved swiftly and she barely saw him move. She did know she was in big trouble though. Idly she wondered if maybe some one would come around, maybe a librarian or something and she felt him grab her hair and drag her up.
****
Carter was waiting on the elevator when he felt a horrible pain, it was almost physical and he didn't even think about it just slammed through the fire doors and morphed taking the steps two at a time.
*****
Diabolico knocked her flat on her back letting go of her hair. Dana was weak by now and bleeding from several places. Her head was swimming as she managed to roll again but then there was a foot on her right leg heavy enough to pin her down as he smiled nastily.
"Your pathetic brother will die just as you shall."
"Wrong Diabolico you took him once and you're never going to do it again." She shouted and landed a flying kick to the demon's gut.
"Not so fast." Vypra shouted as she grabbed Dana and Diabolico glared at the pink clad girl. Then Dana's shirt was torn at the back. Terror filled her, was this how they'd tortured Ryan? If it was so be it. She really should have lat Carter stay. Damn her emotions that had had her panicking over the kiss. Hell he was her friend. Then it happened, there was a searing pain and then the feeling of something crawling over her back.
"THERE," The demon chuckled evilly. "Now when you morph the scorpion will move up, and when it reaches your neck, well you know the story."
"Yeah and you can't get rid of the cobra either or you'll die."
"The 2 are interlinked. If you kill the cobra then the scorpion will simply sink in its stinger. It will take longer for you to die but you'll be just as dead..."
From how she was being held Dana couldn't see but suddenly she was free as she heard the sounds of a scuffle. Falling forward she turned her head in time to see Carter there, pounding the 2 demons. She was then signaling her father.
"There's trouble at the library." She called and then was running at Vypra as she was holding Carter.
***
Kelsey and Ryan were pulled from their dinner by the alert and they were on their feet heading for rescue ops. They ran into Chad in the hallway and found Joel in the command center.
"What's going on?"
"There's trouble at the library."
"Where are Carter and Dana?"
"They are the ones in trouble." Miss Fairweather replied from where she was watching the scene unfolding.
They all then watched as Dana yanked her hair and the sorceress. Vypra spun, kicked out and Dana faked right and kicked her left.
"We better get down there before things get really nasty." Joel said grimly and Chad nodded.
"Ryan you…"
"Stay, yeah yeah I know the drill." The titanium ranger muttered and continued to watch his sister and new friend being pummeled.
***
"I have had it!" Dana shouted and now that she had her morpher she made to use it.
"Lightspeed Rescue!" As she the pain she felt in her back had her falling to her knees. It felt as if someone were holding a flaming brand to her back.
"Dana!" Carter shouted even as the door was invaded by the others and then the demons were gone in a cloud of smoke.
They were all demorphing, all but Dana who was still on her knees gasping for breath.
"Dana what's wrong?"
"Nothing I just…"
"Here." Chad was helping her to her feet. She tried not to wince at the motion as she felt the scorpion crawling and knew she had to demorph or she'd die then and there and there would be no chance of saving Ryan. Hitting the button she then was relieved to see the morph had somehow mended. At least no one could see it.
"We better get back to the Aquabase." Kelsey spoke up and Carter nodded seeing that there was something wrong with Dana. He also could see she'd not say just what it was so let it go for the moment.
TBC
***
Well? I know it's kind of tacky but that's the way the story popped into my head. Anyway PLZ R&R.