Next chapter. I've got amajor headache right now, but I'm as bored as a stupid brick, so I decided to write. Thanks for the new reviews, and I hope you guys enjoy this next chapter. h yeah, and I don't own Sherlock Holmes etc...

Just A Bit Early

Chapter 3: Time to Split

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"Ummm Sarah. Hate to like, burst your explanation bubble and all, but we've got company. Again. Charken must be tracking the new energy signatures."

Sarah whipped her head around towards Eve and cursed aloud, "How many?"

"Atleast 6 score."

"That's over a hundred!" Mike yelped.

"No shit Sherlock. Ok. Here's the deal. Those of you who can morph, morph. We'll split into groups. I need two volunteers to stay behind with me. We'll take the brunt of the force."

"I will." Hunter and Trent said in unision, as they stepped forward. Both shot eachother glances, before their eyes were redirected towards Sarah.

She nodded, "Good. Then pair off. Cole, take Tori and Blake, and head towards the West. Mike, you're with Shane and take the east, Dray, take Dustin and the south, Acacious, take Conner and Kira and southeast, and Eve, take Ethan, southwest. It'll cause Charken to split up his army. His main point of attack will be me, so guys, keep running, until you reach a safe spot to fight back. If things get too tough, radio in for either me or Acacious. We'll get there in a flash. Got it?"

They nodded, and all eyes were sent to see the creatures heading towards them, perhaps only five hundred feet away.

"Go!" With that signal, they split, and took off running.

Sarah turned her attention back at the Crare, which upon seeing the rangers split, split themselves, a small section taking after each ranger group.

Trent and Hunter stepped forward, and Sarah glanced towards them both, "Trent, morph. Hunter, come here."

A bit confused, the crimson ranger stepped forward.

"Hold your hand out."

He did, without question.

She lifted her hand to allow her fingertips to lightly brush against his palm. With a flicker of light, a morpher, identical yo his old one, appeared. Before he could question what had happened, she spoke up, "I don't have time for explanations. I didn't have time to restore everyone else's power. We'll need it the most. Both of you. Morph. Now."

Trent nodded and stepped back, his arm raising upwards. With a glow of white light, his morpher appeared upon his bracelet, "White Ranger, Dino power." And he appeared, fully clothed in his suit.

"Thunder storm, ranger form!" Came Hunter's call, and with a lash of lightning, he appeared in his crimson 'spandex' as well.

A screech echoed, and all eyes diverted to the Crare, and their fast approach. Infact, they were already ontop of them.

Vast dove forward with a terrifying screech, hiss combination, enormous claws slashing and tearing at the hides of his fellow reptilians. The Crare were awesome beasts. Half snake, half wolf, they stood on two hind, furry black legs, or paws, and their upper body with humanoid, with furry arms leading to paws that held wickedly curved blades of various shapes. A canine head with vicious teeth and rotting gums sat below reptilian eyes and enormous, scaley ears. A long snake tail waved behind them, and various scales dotted their pelt. They were a sight to behold, standing at six feet tall, each and every one of them.

Sure, Trent and Hunter had faced monsters similar to these before, but the sheer quantity and viciousness was amazing, and they quickly found themselves outmatched.

Problem was, their suits weren't doing much to protect them. Instead of the usual sparks emitted from when a monster hit them, the armor acted more like weak chainmail, and after a dozen or so hits, the claws began to break through, and then, it wasn't pretty.

Sarah was doing her best to protect them. Lunging to and fro, weilding her weapons. It turns out, her primary weapons were her bracers, which when a button was pushed, a long, thin, sharp metal edged spike protruded out the front past her palm, about a foot long, and out the back, past her elbow, about a foot and a half long.

Hunter dodged a near decapitation from one of the beasts, and dealt it a rattling blow to the head with his staff. He sent the creature down, and it was only replaced by another, which he sent reeling with a lash of thunder energy.

Trent had a serious wound to his right shoulder, which was causing him to faulter in the use of his sword, and Sarah spent most of her time protecting him, knocking away the creatures that threatened his backside. That is, until she saw the predicament Hunter was in.

A Crare had knocked the crimson ranger to the ground, and now four or five surrounded him, each prodding and slamming their weapons down, as he fiercely tried to fend them away with his thunder shield. Lunging forward, she pierced one directly through the neck, causing it to gurgle a scream, blood spraying from the wound, to splatter nearby occupants.

She quickly took care of two more, but before she could reach a fourth one, she was struck viciously across the lower back, where her skin was left bare. The pain was mind-numbing, despite the instant healing from her immortal blood. A screech of anguish caused her to glance Vast's way, just as she was struck with another jab of pain, to her left shoulder, where Vast had been slashed violently.

Gritting her teeth, she shoved forward and flanked the now standing Hunter.

"You alright?"

"Yeah, thanks to you." He nodded her way, "You ok? I saw you stumble."

"It's nothing."

They had taken out more than a score, and yet they still kept coming, and coming, with atleast twenty five left.

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Cole, Tori and Blake stopped for a breather. They had already fought a tough battle against ten of the monsters, and won, but had continued running, in fear that more would come. Tori and Blake, unable to morph, had sustained massive injuries, and stumbled along, bleeding furiously from various wounds. Cole himself had a gash across his right leg, which caused him to stumble from time to time, resulting in his Felinix, Fathiel, to limp as well.

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Mike and Shane were caught in a heavy battle against only five of the creatures. Mike was fighting to keep Shane out of reach of the Crare, since the former red ranger had sustained a slight head injury, and was a bit dizzy on his feet. As the yellow Anibattle ranger took care of the last one, along side his bonded Ash, he turned his attention to Shane, who was slumped against a tree, having trouble breathing.

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Meanwhile, Dustin and Dray had found themselves in quite the predicament. Two Crare had snatched ahold of Dray's pheonix and were torturing it, causing the ranger to writh and squirm in agony. Dustin, filled with a sudden urge to protect this fellow male, dashed forward in a ninja streak, and dealt one of the offending creatures a massive blow to the head. That gave the pheonix enough leverage to break free with a burst of flame, setting the vile creature still holding it on fire.

With that, they had defeated all of their foes, and were finally allowed a breather. Dustin managed to catch Dray just before the male fell to the ground exhausted, his ranger suit dissapating to his normal clothes.

"Eh. Thanks dude."

"No prob."

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Acacious was worried about his sister. Incredibly worried. After twenty years together, they had grown amazingly close, and now, to be so far away from her, was nerve wracking. And now he was stuck defending two of the rangers, Conner and Kira. It was a bit easier, since of course, they could morph, so he didn't need to do much. Especially since ten or so Crare had followed them. A piece of cake for three rangers. Well, not without consequences.

Kira suddenly stumbled and fell to her rear, her ranger suit giving out on her, as Conner lunged infront of the advancing Crare and dealt it a huge blow to the side with his Tyranno staff. Acacious smirked slightly, orange ball of fire flickering within his hand, which he used to destroy an oncoming Crare to his right. And that finished them off.

Conner bent to help Kira up as his suit vanished. Both had sustained minor injuries, but Conner was clearly concerned for Kira.

"You sure you're alright?"

"Yeah. Thanks for protecting me back there."

"No problem."

Acacious rolled his eyes at the obvious 'love' between the two, and then glanced towards Asonyth to his right. The gigantic snake gave a hiss of annoyance, and shook it's head.

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Eve and Ethan had it easy. With Eve's enormous unicorn to help them out with it's long, piercing horn, Ethan's ability to morph, and Eve's uncanny ability to teleport and vanish at will, they had dispatched their pursuers with little difficulty. Now they were making their way through the woods, slowly.

"Shouldn't we head back and help out Trent, and the other two?"

"No. We'd only get in Sarah's way. I know better than to have her worry about more of us. She already has too much on her shoulders."

"What does that mean?"

"Well." Eve perched atop a nearby rock, "She was outcasted from 'heaven' or whatever everybody calls it, because she fell in love with a demon. Which demon? The one currently sending all those Crare to attack us. Charken, the guy you're here to help us kill. For some reason, the demons got pissed as well, and Falissi, the ruler of this nightmare world, locked them both here, and turned Charken against Sarah. They've been fighting for a hundred years now."

Ethan frowned, "That totally sucks."

"You bet it does."

"She still love him?"

"Yeah. I think so."

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Sarah stood, breathing hard, in the middle of all the carnage. Vast screeched a loud cry of victory, and stomped his way over to her. Glancing over his wounds closely, she pressed one hand to his flank, and within instants he was healed. Her attention soon turned to the two that had helped her. Trent had lost his morphing suit a while ago, and had continued fighting with his bare hands. His body was riddled in wounds, and he was barely standing with the support of a tree. Hunter was in as bad as shape, only, he couldn't stand, as the tendon in his right leg had been severed, and the limb no longer functioned.

She headed over to Trent, and smiled softly as he glanced up towards her, breathing hard, blood trickling from the side of his mouth. One hand touched his shoulder lightly, and within moments, his wounds had healed, and his energy was restored.

"Thank you."

He nodded his welcome, "Anytime. I now see why you needed our help."

She nodded back and turned, heading over to Hunter, where she kneeled before him, "You look pretty battered."

"I feel it." He wheezed, "Sorry I wasn't of more help."

Smirking lightly, she slipped her hand, digits lightly carressing his leg, "You were plenty of help. Much needed help. I'm glad you stayed to fight with me." And his wounds healed just as Trent's had.

"You fight well."

"Yeah? It comes from being the Angel of Death... Although, most of the time I just rained down sulfur and created plagues. Heh." She sat back, clearly exhausted, and placed a hand over her amulet. As it glowed faintly, she spoke, "Guys, return to camp. It's all clear. Any who need healing, hurry up. My energy is about depleted."

"I hear you sis." Acacious's voice flickered over the link, and she removed her hand.

It took a coupl minutes for everyone to emerge into the light. Acacious immediately headed over to Sarah, who was being helped up by Hunter.

"You ok sis?"

"A bit tired, but fine." She suddenly glanced to the side, as Mike and Shane came into view, the yellow anibattle ranger supporting the red one.

"Gotta go." She headed in their direction, just as Tori, Blake and Dustin got there, clearly concerned. Hunter headed up the rear.

"What's wrong?"

"He got hit in the head, hard, and eh's having trouble breathing. Better heal him quick Sarah."

With a nod, she placed her hand atop his head, and instantly Shane was able to stand on his own.

"Hey. Thanks."

"No problem." One by one she ventured around, healing each and every one of them. Except Eve and Ethan, both of which had only one or two scratches. As she finished with Cole, her last ranger to heal, she stumbled and fell to her knees, wings spreading in instinct, to balance herself. With a cough, she sprayed blood upon the ground, and within seconds, she was out like a light.

Sarah awoke some time later to find the area completely dark. She was in her tent, well, as far as she could tell, tucked in, with Vast actually curled up beside her, sound asleep. With a soft smile, she caressed the reptiles head with two fingers, before she drifted back off to sleep.

Morning came around, and as always, she she already up and about preparing breakfast by the time everyone else got up. As they all climbed sleepily from their tents, she pointed out a blanket laying nearby where nine sets of clothes were all layed out.

"Ninja rangers on the right. Dino rangers on the left, you'll know who's is who's by the color of the clothes. There's a rack of showers, believe it or not, we have plumbing in the middle of nowhere, with boys to the right of the camp, and girls to the left. Once you're done and clean, and changed, I need to see all of the ninja rangers so I can restore their morphing powers."

Rubbing their sleepy eyes, everyone wandered off. Everyone, that is, except Hunter, who headed her way, "Need any help?"

"Nah. I'm fine. Go shower."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Go." She sent him a smile and made a shooing motion.

With a simple smirk sent back, the tall blonde turned and headed after Shane and the rest.

/Funny./

Sarah glanced to her side where Vast stood, perched lightly on his feet, his large head cocked her way.

"What is?"

/How that human seems to want to keep within your proximity./

She blinked, "Wow. Big words for an extinct reptilian beast."

With a sarcastic hiss, the creature shock back, /Yeah? Well atleast I'm not a featherless angel./

That caught a nerve, and he saw the hurt look in her eyes. With a soft grumble, he turned and leapt off, /Sorry./

"Whatever."

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TBC. Yawn. I'm tired. Ok, first things first: /speech/ is thoughtspeak. Their animals can't speak aloud, but they have mental links. Second, thanks for the reviews guys. Third, I'm not that good with fight scenes, so I sorta skimmed over all the major detailing and headed towards the main picture. Hunter and Sarah relationship blossoming rather crappily. It'll get better. Trust me. Until next time!