A.N.: A huge Thanks goes out to charm3power who helped me write this chapter and i'm somewhat over my writer's block. I'm still open to more sugessions for the rest of this story and the following ones don't be shy to drop me a line ;-).
Chapter Eighteen: With the Rise of the Sun
Ryan pulled the Rover up and heard sounds of fighting. He killed the engine and hopped out. The other rangers were already ahead of him as they came to the clearing where the sounds of battle were and then they stopped dead. Ryan watched on as he saw Chris's hand move from her side and sweep quickly across the monster's chest is an upward slash motion. Then he watched in complete amazement as the monster stumbled back and its jewel fell from its chest to the ground. Chris stood half crouched with her arm extended and a sword held firmly in her hand.
Chris turned to them as Kelsey let out a gasp of surprise. They had never seen anything like it. She walked up saying something and then walked past him to pick up her jacket and then put it on. The sun's light began to over take the work and drive back the darkness of night. Dana walked over and looked at her.
"You're bleeding." She said Chris smirked as she looked at Dana.
"Was bleeding," Chris replied she could feel the dried blood on her face and on her back she put her hand up to wipe away the blood that had crusted. The wounds were superficial not deep just scratches and they were healing quickly. There was a gentle breeze but it carried a foul stench through the air.
"May what is that?" Joel asked covering his nose. Chris looked around and noticed the Sword.
"Ars'kar's Sword do we have bags in the Rover? Any plastic bags or maybe a body bag?" Chris asked.
"We have some hazard material bags." Dana said.
"That would be perfect. How about some gloves or suit?" Chris asked.
"Yeah" Chad said bringing out two of the suites for Chris and he'd decided to help her. He handed her a suite and she quickly put it on once again she removed her jacket. This time Dana was able to catch the fact that her back had scratches and they had also bleed. Chris and Chad walked over to the sword and put it in the hazard waste bag. Carefully wrapping it up they put it in the back of the Rover. Chris and Chad removed their suites and put them away.
"Man we have to ride all the way back to base with that thing in the car?" Joel complained.
"Yes because I'm taking my bike and it won't fit." Chris said.
"What are we going to do with it?" Kelsey asked.
"I'M gonna clean it up and go from there." Chris said.
"Okay lets go back to base" Ryan said, still a little bit shocked at the fight. Ryan really didn't think anyone no himself or another could destroy a monster like that.
"So how about that sparring match Ryan?" Chris said. He wondered if he really wanted to take her challenge. Then again he didn't think they'd be fighting with swords. He hadn't seen any of the fight. So it was a wondered as to what the fight was like for there was no record because Chris didn't morph.
"Ahhh" he was saying, as Chris simple tilted her head and crossed her arms waiting for an answer. Nobody said anything to either convince or not convince Ryan to fight. He looked at Chris who was now holding her swords in her crossed arms.
"Right now?" He asked feeling dumb at the question.
"Yes" Chris said. Ryan looked at her and shook his head.
"How 'bout no one but the other Rangers, not the entire base to watch." Chris said.
"How about after you've healed." Ryan said and Chris just smirked.
"It's nothing serious" Chris said, "I've had worse and done a lot more stupider things. Come on now with the rise of the sun."
"You are Crazy," he said smiling in spite of past day or so.
"I'm insane there's a difference." Chris said smiling back.
"Once you've healed now let's go back to base." Ryan repeated his earlier statement.
"See you guys there" Chris said walking over to her bike after taking back her weapons from Chad.
"Chris-" Dana started.
"I'll get checked out in the Infirmary at base Mother hen." Chris said as she pulled her helmet on and taking off for base.
Ryan started the Rover and followed after her, he began to contemplate what had happened. He hadn't expected Chris to be able to destroy the monster like that. He didn't think even he could do it not even the help of the other ranges. His mind began to face facts that Chris was not like he thought she was. As they descended into the base Ryan seriously realized that if Chris could handle a monster like that Loki, Vypra, hell Olympius, or even the now destroyed Diabolico probably was that big a deal to fight against. There was something else about Chris, it was something he wasn't sure about and there was something she kept hidden to herself. He wondered about the fact that she was skilled with blades like that. Why had she learned to use them in the first place?
Chris kept her mind forward the challenge to Ryan would be long standing one. But there was that smile from earlier she realized that the problems would slowly be worked out. Yet it would take a lot of effort on both parties parts.
At the Aquabase as the Rescue Rover drove up Ryan killed the engine jumping out he tried to help Chris who had stumbled due to a cord she didn't pay attention to on the floor. She mental kicked herself for no paying attention while Ryan was trying to carry her. But Chris turned to him and insisted on walking. Chris walked slowly into the infirmary, where Mrs. Fairweather and others were waiting to help her. Kelsey, Dana, Chad, Joel, Ryan, and Capt. Mitchell waited outside.
"I seriously am going to nuts if we have to look for another red ranger. Carter isn't any where near being healed." Captain Mitchell mumbled to his self and after the rangers gave him strange looks he elaborated,
"Mrs. Fairweather told me Chris's injuries could be too severe for her to morph. But she isn't positive yet."
"What? She hasn't been a ranger that long, and she can fight. She really did most of the fighting, when she saved me. I was too weak from the beatings that Loki and the Batlings gave me. That's the only reason she had to called the rest of you. If I had been healthier I sure Chris and I could have handled them." said Kelsey.
"What about Ars'kar ?" asked Ryan crossing his arms.
"He surprised us all it wouldn't have made a difference." Kelsey snapped back.
"I meant about fighting him alone." Ryan said.
"She was right to do it. For her it was a matter of pride. Chris took his challenge to fight fair, and the demons thought Chris would lose, so they didn't show up." said Chad, "If you had intervened she would have had to lose."
"She's hurt and she could have died." Ryan shouted back.
"Maybe but she did stopped him. The point is she may have been hurt physically, but you hurt her emotionally. To her it seems your don't care for her pride and honor." said Kelsey and walked away from the room. Chad and Joel ran after her to calm her down.
"Ryan, Kelsey is right. Carter wouldn't have chosen her if he thought she couldn't handle it. But Kelsey and I are just as strong as she is. I know you don't want any of us to get really hurt, but you're being too overprotective." said Dana. She then left to join the others.
"I'll go see how Chris is doing." Capt. Mitchell said as he was walking into the examining room. Ryan sat down in a chair and sighed.
"Maybe I have treated her wrong. I just don't want her to get hurt." Ryan said.
In the examining room Chris laid on the bed without saying anything or moving her sensitive hearing wasn't needed for her to hear the conversation out in the hall. She had stopped moving the moment the conversation had started. Mrs. Fairweather nods to Captain Mitchell as the two exited leaving a nurse to monitor Chris's condition.
"She'll recover. The bad news is she'll be out for a day or two. The good news is we won't be needing a third red ranger." Mrs. Fairweather said.
"That's the best news I've heard all day. Let me know when she wakes up, so the other rangers can talk with her." Capt. Mitchell said.
"Captain. She heard all of you arguing. I think it made her feel even worse." said Mrs. Fairweather.
"I'll talk with them. When they calm down, they'll apologize to each other. We have to try to keep them together on this. If they take sides, we may not have a team for Carter to come back to." Captain Mitchell said.
In the Mess hall Kelsey sat alone in a booth while Chad and Joel brought back some sodas. Dana sighs as she joins them.
"I know Ryan was raised by demons, but I didn't think he could still act so cold." Kelsey said.
"I know. He's way overprotective." Dana said as she sipped her soda.
"I don't think we need to worry about Chris. Ryan called me while I was getting the food, on my morpher. He said Chris is going to pull through. She'll be out of service for a day or so, so we'll only have 5 rangers." said Chad. Suddenly the alarms ring.
"Not again." Kelsey moaned.
The 4 rangers run from the room and met Ryan, Captain Mitchell, and Mrs. Fairweather in the Control room. Dana, Kelsey, Chad, and Joel run up to the Captain and Titanium Ranger.
"What's wrong Captain Mitchell?" asked Kelsey.
"Look!" a random technician said.
The image shows Jinxer on a building. He was reciting an incantation and tossed a card towards a new monster thus making him grow gigantic.
"Great another one." Joel mumbles.
"We can beat him with five." Ryan said confidently.
"We'll have to try." said Dana.
Dana, Kelsey, Chad, and Joel raised their morphers. "Lightspeed Rescue!" said Dana, Kelsey, Chad, and Joel.
"Titanium Power!" said Ryan.
The five Lightspeed Rangers, now morphed, ran to their train Zords, and once at the surface sped towards the city.
In the Infirmary Chris woke up the instant the alarms started. Then she saw the battle on the monitor.
"I'm going to find that bleeping demon and hurt him severely." Chris mumbled as she climbed from the bed. Even as she stood up slowly she ends up aching all over.
"Stupid injuries." said Chris grumbled reaching for her morpher.
Meanwhile in the City the Supertrain Megazord was formed. The Red Zord was on autopilot from the other four consoles and the Max Solarzord had gone to battloid mode.
"I hope we can do this by ourselves." said Dana.
"Without Carter and Chris out of commission, we'll have to." Kelsey said. The demon fired hurling the two Zords backwards the rangers felt themselves being jarred to the bone as they landed.
"WHAT! That blast cut half our power." Kelsey said completely surprised.
"He's stronger than we thought." Dana said with a bit of dread in her voice.
"We have to get up and keep trying." Chad said.
The demon put his foot on top of the Supertrain Megazord. Laughing, he began to push his sword through the Megazord. A gloved hand grabs the demon hurdling it backwards.
"What the?" asked Joel. The rangers looked to see the Lightspeed Rescue Megazord stepping between them and the demon.
"I'm not getting any life signs" Dana said perplexed.
"Who's controlling that?" asked Kelsey.
"Let's just be glad for the help, and ask questions later." Ryan said.
"Right." said Kelsey, Chad, Joel, and Dana.
The Supertrain Megazord and Max Solarzord got to their feet, and join the other Zord. The Rescue Megazord pointed this way and that and indicating the Rangers shouldn't stand to close. The demon shot at one Zord but was hit by the other two. When it turned to attack another Zord the one he had hit got back up. Again it hit one Zord only to be struck by the other two. The demon suddenly realized he was out numbered and out gunned. It started to back up as it realized that the three together were very powerful. Growing angry it spun and hit the Rescue Megazord with an overwhelming power strike the Megazord fell over and didn't move.
"Are you guys ready?" asked Dana.
"Yeah!" came from the other four.
"Then let's finish this." Ryan said.
"This is for Chris!" yelled Kelsey.
The Supertrain Megazord fired, and the demon fell to the ground exploding as it hit. Captain Mitchell gave the rangers orders to break down the Rescue Megazord and return all Zords to base. Shortly there after the Lightspeed rangers return to the Aquabase.
"How did you do that?" Kelsey asked as they came up to Ms. Fairweather looking sad standing next to a smoking room looking thing.
"We rigged the Rescue Zord for remote control as a test but that's over." She said, and the others noticed that it was an almost exact duplicate of the Rescue Megazord cockpit. It was smoking and sparking and couple with the feeling in the room the rangers got a pit in the bottom of their stomachs.
"Ms. Fairweather?" Ryan asked.
*Flashback*
The Red Ranger dodge scrambling techs as she crossed the room getting her cleaned Jacket and headed for the nearest exit.
"Where do you thing you're going?" Ms. F asked the Red Ranger.
"To help." Chris said as if it should be obvious.
"In your condition." She started
"There's a reason my last name is Steele Ms. F." She stated getting ready to climb on a lift.
"You don't have to leave to help them." She said that got Chris turned and raised an eyebrow.
"Oh?" She asked.
"We have a remote control for the Rescue Megazord" She said. The point of this was lost on Chris, but she wasn't going to push the issue. She could help and get some people off her back. "One question how likely is it that it will blow up?" There was a smirk on her lips but that's because Chris had at times a very morbid sense of humor this was one of those times. Ms. Fairweather's eyebrow twitched at the comment but shook her head.
"A small one it would take an enormous over load thought."
Nodding her head she said "Lightspeed Rescue" and transformed into the Red Ranger.
"So this remote station is not complete is it?" she asked Ms. F didn't bother to reply. Without too much trouble Chris was able to pilot the Rescue Megazord around the battlefield but the communication in the cockpit weren't working at all. This was of course the first use so naturally it had issues. Everything was fine until the demon tried to electrocute the Rescue Megazord. Chris was fortunate that she had chosen to morph otherwise she would have been dead. They had managed to cut the power the room yet not before Chris had been thrown out by an electrical wave. That's when it all went to chaos Chris's body had flown out as she jumped away and landed with a thud. She de-morphed as she landed then she didn't move. She however was still breathing that was the only good thing in the whole ordeal.
*End of Flashback*
"It was chaos after that medics came in and took her back to the Medbay her condition is still uncertain we just now got this thing under control." Ms. F said her voice slightly wavering. Joel gingerly stepped up the scientist and gave her a hug for once she didn't bat him away nor did Joel make a joke or hit on her.
A few hours later in Mariner Bay at the hospital Dana walked into Carter's room she had been unable to sleep so she had decided to visit the injured Red Ranger.
"I saw the battle." said Carter as she walked in.
"It was pretty impressive." Dana replied quietly.
"How is Chris doing? I heard she was injured by that freak you guys destroyed today." Carter's voice held great concern when Ryan had called him up with an update he didn't have to many details.
"Yeah. She's recover. She'll be back to normal in 1 week." Dana replied.
"Can you guys handle a week without a ranger?" Carter said.
"Yeah, I guess." Her voice was a little shaky and Carter didn't like it. "What about you? Do you know when you'll fit for battle again."
"At least three months. Maybe more." said Carter quietly now his voice was uncertain. Dana nods though she didn't like his tone suddenly her morpher beeped.
"Go ahead this is Dana."
"Dana. This is Ryan." His voice came through her morpher, "Chris is awake."
"On my way." She said turning to Carter, "I'll talk to you later."
"Tell her I said 'Baka'" Carter said as he nodded, and Dana ran out.
Back at the Aquabase in the Medical Bay Dana arrived, and saw that the others were already in the room talking to Chris.
"I saw the battle. You guys were awesome." Chris said as Dana walked in.
"You shouldn't have gotten out of bed," Ryan said.
"I realized that belatedly" Chris said shrugging, "But oh well I'm a live."
"You could-"
"Have been killed, no I didn't think about that Ryan which isn't why I was worried and morphed before I got in the remote unit." Chris said very sarcastically. This made Ryan scower at her. Chris just ignored his attitude.
"You're lucky the blast didn't stop your heart." Dana said.
"The suites are very nice." Chris said sitting up more, there was no tremor of pain across her face, "They've got good insulation."
"How do you feel?" Ryan asked Chris.
"Pretty good, don't listen to the doctors I'll be out here by tomorrow" Chris said with a wink.
"I have to agree" Ms. F said. The doctor had been a bit surprised but the readouts on Chris, they stated she was in very good health. She actually could return to duty the next day.
"Surprising you've recovered pretty quick, I wonder how." Ms. F said. Chris shrugged with an 'I'm not completely sure what you're talking about' look.
"You're hiding something. What is it?" Ryan demanded.
He's response caught Chris off guard she answered perplexed, "I'm not hiding anything."
"You are. And I'm going to find out what it is." said Ryan, walking out of the room. Chris stood up for the first time in several hours the room wasn't spinning. They other four Rangers were giving her a strange look.
"I'm just as puzzled as you are." Chris said testing her legs.
"I want you to remain here overnight for observation." Captain Mitchell said. Chris sighed as she laid back down on the bed.
"Dana, Kelsey, Chad, Joel. Thanks for being there for me. I heard your fight with Ryan, earlier." said Chris.
"You did. How much did you hear?" asked Kelsey looking at the ground.
"All of it. You guys and Ryan need to be a strong team, so that when Carter comes back, you guys will be as strong. Hopefully even stronger." Chris said as she leaned back in bed.
"I know." said Dana, sitting down in a chair. Kelsey sits down next to her.
"I'm going to get some sleep. See you guys tomorrow." Chad said waving as he walked out.
"Yeah. Me too." said Joel following shortly there after. Amazingly the day had gone by quickly. It was already late in the evening. Joel and Chad walk out of the Medbay to their room.
"I hope Carter gets well soon." Kelsey murmured.
"Don't worry that monkey will be just fine, he's strong. As for us, we can handle anything Olympius dishes out." Chris said with a wink.
"Oh Chris, Carter said to tell you he said 'Baka'" Dana said her face showed she clearly didn't understand. Chris just smirked and shook her head.
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