Chapter 29- Phoenix
I am digging deep, I am digging wide
Looking for clues, in the grand design
But no better, no better I'll never ever be
If I can't keep what I find
'Cause I have lost so many things
And I have loved so foolishly
But never, no never have I walked this dark path
Or felt this troubled sleep
So can you make ends meet when they're tattered and frayed
Make peace with the things that you've done
'Cause the end has nothing to do with the means and the
Way that the battle's won
'Cause you try to talk me down
And I'm running all around
You try to talk some sense to me
But there I am in pieces on the ground
And so I wander, so I lust
Ever wonder who to trust
'Cause there's no clear line from blindness to sight
No straight path from dust to dust
So I am digging deep, I am digging wide
I can see true, when I see your eyes
And no better, no better I'll never ever be
Without love by my side
-Jonatha Brooke- Digging
Tommy cut a swathe through the ranks of Tyrannodrones as if he were on fire, they melted away from him- under his blistering anger and searing grief. It was better for him to throw himself into the moment, so that he didn't have to think about going back home- seeing Kimberly's body on the bed, no steady comforting rhythm from the heart monitor to reassure him she was still there, or perhaps worse- going home and not seeing her there. So he hit and he kicked and he roared, a more fearsome sight than any of the Rangers had seen in their years, months or weeks of service, more fearsome than any monster or scheme they had come up against. Just a heartbroken and mourning man who had lost it all. Tommy honestly didn't care if he lived or died, if the legendary Tommy Oliver fell humiliatingly under a crowd of mindless 'drones, it honestly didn't matter one bit to him, he would fall on the sword now if it weren't for his students and best friends standing there. He was obligated to continue, for them, he was Conner, Kira and Ethan's mentor, he couldn't fail them now- it was he who pushed this Ranger mantle on them in the first place. So he survived out of guilt, out of obligation, that was all life was worth anymore.
His students had dealt with the monster in the usual manner- it wasn't as if they really needed him any more, they hadn't learnt all there was to know about being Rangers- about accepting responsibilities and thinking things through- but any old ex-Ranger could tell them that. He just wanted to curl into a ball and that be the end of it, fossilise himself-perhaps they could put him in a Power Ranger museum to be pointed at- 'the greatest Ranger of them all' saved countless lives, helped save the world countless times over, led a new team of Rangers to save even more countless lives, but what good did it do him when he couldn't protect, couldn't save the one person who only really mattered?
His former team-mates were coping in much the same way as him, not talking about it or acknowledging it, just taking their aggression and grief out on some mindless evil-doers, the best form of Ranger therapy if he did say so himself. Once the hordes and the mandatory monster had been taken care of the band of Rangers past and present came together reluctantly in the middle of the park, knowing what this battle's end meant, back to Tommy's house where there could be no running from the inevitable once more. Just then the palaeontologist was aware of a low but insistent beeping in his helmet- the alert had probably been sounding for some time but he was too caught up to notice or pay any attention to it, apparently his students had the same problem.
"Hey Dr. O, what's with the bleeping, did you leave the oven on or something?" Conner asked, shaking his helmeted head about as if trying to dislodge the irritating sound. Tommy pushed a button on his morpher to acknowledge the alert signal which silenced the alarm but the flashing light on the eye of the morpher continued to blink as a reminder.
"No, it's an alarm at the house, either an internal breach or something's gone wrong. Either way it could be serious, we need to get back." He said decisively, and the group set off once more towards a new emergency.
"Oh my god…" Kira gasped as they ran through the forest shortcut towards the back entrance of the command centre basement. Thick black smoke was curling into the air from the location of the house and from this distance there was no pretending it was coming from anywhere else. The smell of burning wood and other acrid fumes could be noticed even through their helmets. The group of Rangers quickened their pace and arrived at the rock wall- still a fair distance from the house as it led underground to the basement with links to the vehicle and weapons stores where the raptor riders and cycles were housed. Tommy tried the code to open the hidden stone wall but was met with a disturbing message on the screen.
Access denied- internal breach
It flashed over and over on the screen in bold red letters, inescapable.
"Tommy man, what does it mean?" Zack asked hesitantly.
"I don't know, it won't open for safety or security reasons, guess we'll have to use the conventional entrance." Tommy said tightly, trying to sound light to hide the worry in his tone but it ended up just sounding strained. Following the rock walls out of the trees towards the front of the house the Rangers were pulled up short in shock. Tommy's house wasn't just on fire- it was completely decimated. A raging inferno blistered and the wooden exterior was charred black and barely holding together- but the flames were still raging ceaselessly- its intensity indicated gas or petrol but they were all too stunned to think about the method. The cars in the driveway had all been overturned and trashed and papers, belongings and furniture lay strewn and in some cases still smouldering on the front lawn or half pushed out of windows.
"Oh my god." Aisha repeated what everyone else was thinking.
"Tommy man-" Jason started but Tommy cut him off.
"Hayley!" He exclaimed, remembering through the shock they had left the redhead at the house while they fought. Tommy charged to the front door preparing to kick his way in, but a violent explosion as the fire burst through the door knocked him back off the smoking porch. Tommy held an arm up to shield his visor from the glare of the flames, trying to see in as he backed away, even now the thick smoke stinging his nostrils through the helmet.
"God, Hayley- no…you have to be okay, not you too." He murmured as another violent explosion rocked the house.
"Tommy bro get away from there, the whole thing's gonna blow!" Jason shouted urgently, running forward to grab his arm and pull him back.
"I can't leave her in there!" Tommy argued, pulling his arm away.
"It's too late bro, there's no way someone could walk out of that!" Rocky called with a shake of his head.
"This is unbelievable, first Kim, now this?" Ethan muttered in angry distress to his team mates. "That Mesogog is one sick sonofa-" He was cut off as the second storey of the house gave a creaking groan and the right corner sagged down against the first storey and porch roof with a loud crack.
"Tommy we've got to get back, it's going up!" Adam said in warning as Jason began forcibly pulling Tommy back- the teacher's eyes were still locked on the burning building and the fate of his colleague and 'partner in crime' -as she called herself.
"Or down, whichever way you prefer." Billy shook his head, none of them could really believe it was happening, the shock at Kim's fate was traumatic enough but now Tommy had lost his colleague, home and research too? The building gave another ominous rumble and the intensity of the heat almost seemed to dim before a massive explosion rocked the foundations of the place and sent all the Rangers crashing to the ground.
"There's no way someone could have survived that blast." Billy shook his head sadly as they all regrouped at the edge of the woods. "I'm sorry Tommy."
"Wait-" Conner's disbelief was evident in his voice as the group collectively demorphed, more out of exhaustion than anything else. "-Then who's that?!" Walking down the steps of the burning porch, a bundle wrapped in cloths in their arms was a lone figure, features obscured by the flames, smoke and shadow- but also by the hood and robes that disguised the identity of the wearer as they approached the group. As the figure drew closer- the colours and details of the robe became apparent.
Pink
"It can't be…"
"It's impossible!"
"Kimberly?!"
As the apparent Pink Ninja Ranger drew near, she began to sag- her knees began to buckle and she collapsed, the hefty bundled figure tumbling out of her arms as she fell to her hands and knees in the dirt. Her robes were blackened from soot and a little singed round the edges but apparently had held firm- although the hacking cough she displayed evidenced the smoke had become too much. Gasping for air through the mask the Ranger's hands shook as she tried to pull the hood from her head- she needn't have bothered with the effort as after a moment the pink robes began to flash and disintegrate from lack of energy to sustain them, before they exploded from her altogether.
Tommy's knees gave out from under him and he fell too as he saw that all too familiar caramel hair brushing against the ground as Kimberly coughed and panted for clean oxygen, fingers digging into the dirt as she wheezed and tried to clear her overworked lungs.
Aisha squealed and Trini gasped and grasped her cheeks in disbelief as the two ran over to the crouching figure, Jason hot on their heels.
"Hayley- Help…Hayley." Kim spluttered between breaths, indicating to the human bundle of moistened sheets she had dropped as she fell. Aisha nodded rapidly, still too shocked to speak as she quickly unwrapped the soot stained material from around Hayley to reveal the redhead was unconscious and sporting some rather nasty burns but thankfully still breathing. Trini was on her knees beside Kimberly stroking her back soothingly as the Pink Ranger began to regain her breath, before it was taken away again by the swooping bear hug that Jason, Trini and then Zack a few moments later flung on her.
"But- how?!" Billy gawped, never having been so thankful his prediction was wrong but still completely dumbfounded. In the end he settled for a shrug before rushing over to join in the greetings.
"I'm with you." Adam nodded in agreement before he too followed the group over, Rocky not far behind.
Once the group had finished pelting Kimberly with unanswered questions and exclamations of joy and shock they parted and, once more, two sets of soulful brown eyes met across a great expanse. Kimberly had regained her footing- pulled up by all her team-mates to facilitate hugging- but Tommy had not, completely floored by what he saw before him.
"K-Kimberly- beautiful?" He stammered in disbelief- not daring to believe it could be true after the events of the past few days.
"In the flesh, handsome." Kimberly smiled weakly, her voice still a little croaky from the exposure to the smoke, turning around what he had said to her all those years ago when he made his unexpected and welcome return to the team as the White Ranger. She didn't expect him to faint as she had- but he did drag himself to his feet and with surprising speed and agility threw himself at her, crushing her to him desperately as if he were the oxygen starved one gasping for air. He buried his face in that familiar caramel hair, sobbing brokenly with what seemed like a mixture of relief and disbelief, overwhelmed and unashamed.
"Oh God Kim I thought you- the Pink Energy it was destroyed and we- it didn't-" He stammered, too overwhelmed to be coherent between sobs. Kimberly stood for a moment with her arms comfortingly around him, allowing him to get all of his tumultuous emotions out before she slowly pulled away and looked into his tear-filled chocolate eyes, smiled and pressed her slender fingers to his lips to silence him, as her other hand soothingly stroked his cheek and up to brush the tears from under his eyes.
"Shhh, its okay handsome, its okay, I'm fine. I'm not going anywhere, shhh." She rested her forehead against his with her hand still nestled in the dark spikes on the back of his head, her arm resting on his shoulder. They stood in silence until Tommy's ragged breaths resumed a more normal pattern, then Kim brought her hand back up, tracing his softly parted lips with her fingertips, staring deeply into the eyes she considered the most beautiful in the world. She almost cried with relief and joy as she drowned in the mahogany depths that finally once more revealed all his innermost thoughts and feelings, his emotional walls crumbled by the barrage of events of the past few days. Taking a deep breath and smiling with all of herself she gave him reassurance,
"I'm fine, I'll explain everything later, what I know anyway. But first, I think I remember something about you owing me some proof about your feelings." She smirked softly, doe-eyes twinkling mischievously.
"With pleasure." Tommy grinned- the first real, heartfelt smile he'd had in days- though it seemed like a lifetime- as he bent, his right hand snaking up the back of her neck to rest in her hair as the left pulled her waist in close to him, and captured her lips with his- a lifetime of passion, love, pain and promise poured into it, a multitude of different heartfelt and consuming emotions flowing through their veins as Kim stood up on tip-toes to deepen the kiss- hot tears of joy and relief pouring down her cheeks as she gave everything she felt and was into this kiss- this moment.
Reluctantly she had to eventually pull away as her burnt lungs cried out in protest for the oxygen they had been starved of while in the house. She dared not go too far however and stayed, resting her head on Tommy's broad chest, taking comfort in the strong and now slightly rapid heart that beat beneath the surface.
"God I missed you so much Beautiful." He murmured against her ear, the words rumbling through her and sending a warm tingle down her spine, holding her to him as if he would never let go- an idea he planned to honour, and she returned it with just as much fervour as her small frame could allow.
"Ha, at least you got to run around and have a nice chat with everyone. Just when we were getting cosy you bailed on me and I was left on the other side of the radio- not being able to tell you how I felt." Kim teased him slightly, though her voice got smaller and more distressed towards the end of the statement.
"And I'm never going to leave you again Kim, I'm sorry. Just had some stuff to take care of while you were gone." He smiled lightly down at her and she returned it brightly before hugging him again.
When she pulled away she glanced back at the completely destroyed house which had- somewhere in the ensuing chaos of Kimberly's reappearance- completely collapsed onto itself into a pile of burning tinder and rubble.
"Oh god, your house- all of your stuff- the Rangers it's all-"
"Hey, hey," Tommy cut her off, "None of that matters, I can get more stuff, just as long as you and Hayley are okay, that's all that counts."
"How did this happen anyway?" Adam asked, cutting in on the couple's moment for a much needed dose of information.
"I guess I better start from the beginning, or at least as much as I can remember- then maybe Hayley can fill in the blanks?" Kim squinted questioningly at the newly awakened redhead who was drinking a bottle of water provided by Aisha until they could get some proper first aid fixed up.
"That'd be a good place to start." Trini nodded, moving to squeeze Kim's hand reassuringly.
"Yeah, where does your beginning begin?" Zack asked with a small laugh.
"I think we better conduct this meeting someplace more private, someone will be along to check out this mess sooner or later and they'll probably call the fire brigade, it'd be better if we weren't here or we might have a lot of explaining to do." Jason added sensibly, putting a hand on Kim's shoulder, still overwhelmed that this had happened but that his little sister was alright.
"Right." Tommy agreed, "Hayley, any chance we can use the café?"
"We can go through the back entrance and use the store-room, its emergency control centre equipment should all be in once piece too. I left Vanessa and Trent in charge for this morning anyway, so hopefully they shouldn't need me." Hayley nodded, her voice still raspy from smoke inhalation.
"Man though, I forgot about the cars- Rocky, Billy I'm so sorry guys." Tommy turned guiltily to the two former Blue Rangers as they all glanced at the trashed vehicles.
"Like you said, it's just stuff man, I've got insurance." Rocky shrugged, though internally lamenting the custom paint job on the now wrecked convertible.
"Mine was merely a rental car anyway, though I suppose I will have a lot of explaining to do when I go to return it." Billy said sheepishly.
"Looks like we've got another walk then guys. Hayley can you stand?" Tommy asked, moving with Kimberly over to pull the woman to her feet.
"I'll manage." She nodded bravely until the Dino Thunder Rangers, who had stayed out of this reunion now stepped forward.
"I could use my Power of Speed to run Hayley and Kim over to the café, and no-one would even see." Conner suggested helpfully.
"I don't know, it could be risky." Tommy frowned dubiously, not really wanting to risk injuring Kim or Hayley for that matter, no matter Conner's confidence in his abilities.
"C'mon Dr. O, trust me with this, I won't mess up." Conner said seriously, and Kimberly turned back to Tommy with a light smile.
"We'll be fine Tommy, it's the easiest way, or we could be walking forever! Let him do it." She said reassuringly, squeezing Tommy's hand to reinforce that it would be alright. Kira took this moment to break the ranks and finally go to fiercely hug Kim, the woman had become as much a mentor to her as Dr. Oliver over the past week or so. Ethan and Conner, not to be left out of a girl sandwich joined in the hugging and for maybe the fourth time in as many minutes Kim found herself in the middle of an energetic group hug.
"We were really worried about you Kim." Kira mumbled from somewhere in the middle of the squash.
"Yeah, and Dr. O was totally flipping." Ethan confided.
"But we handled it." Conner added humorously.
"I missed you guys too." Kim laughed as the teenagers finally pulled away, the two boys puffing their chests out up and trying to regain their macho image while Kira sniffled, pulling herself together. They were most lost of all with the recent events, having been relegated to the sidelines for much of Kim's predicament and seeing her effectively die twice, having their mentor become an emotional train wreck slash overprotective control freak respectively, and now having their base and command centre- as well as their #2 hangout spot utterly destroyed by the enemy, it seemed that now at least hopefully things could start getting back to normal or at least their semblance of it. With Kim back, they knew it couldn't be all bad.
"Okay Conner, you can go, do I even have to bother with a safety lecture?"
"Not necessary Dr. O, think of me as the bubble-wrap around these delicate glass sculptures- one hundred percent perfect and in one piece or the delivery is free."
"Conner-" Tommy started warningly at the Red Ranger's cocky smirk and confident protestations.
"Ladies, your chariot awaits." Conner said, ignoring Dr. O's admonition and holding both his arms out in a gentlemanly fashion, deciding to morph so he would have the extra strength and stamina to carry them both at once, and it would eliminate any questions should they happen to be spotted by anyone familiar on the way.
"We'll meet you there in a few minutes. Be careful." Tommy cautioned, before giving Kimberly a deep goodbye kiss, watching with worry in his eyes as the Red Ranger sped away.
"Are we in the Twilight Zone or what?" Ethan broke the comfortable silence that settled on the group staring off through the trees.
"Orrr- The Zone Where Normal Things Don't Happen… Very Often?" Rocky suggested, met by a roll of the eyes from Adam and Aisha.
"You need to quit watching cartoons hon." Aisha smiled and looked heavenwards somewhat despairingly.
"Well I mean, this is all so unreal- Kim's back, Dr. O needs a new bachelor pad, we have an evil White Ranger on our case- it's been one crazy assed week- that's all." The Blue Ranger shrugged.
"Man, I'm just lookin' forward to finding out what the hell happened out here, and how we got Kim back in the first place." Zack shook his head. "And we thought Zedd and his buds blowin' up our Zords every week was bad…- okay that may have been a slight exaggeration, but still!" He added emphatically.
"I have to admit I'm with Zack on that." Trini agreed. "But the important thing is that Kimberly is back, however it happened."
"Come on then, or our coffees will be cold by the time we get there!" Rocky bounced eagerly once more and the company all groaned. At least one thing was certain in this unpredictable world, no matter what the catastrophe or incident faced the Power Rangers and the world, Rocky DeSantos could always be counted on to still be thinking with his stomach.
"That's strange," Hayley frowned as she came back into the room with the second tray full of coffees for the dozen Rangers filling her store-room.
"What's wrong Hayley?" Tommy asked, standing to relieve the genius of the tray to allow her to sit back on her chair somewhat stiffly- they had used the Cyber Space's first aid kit and Aisha's dubious medical expertise to slather Hayley with burn cream, moisturiser and ice packs, and furnished Kimberly with plenty of ice-water to tide her over.
"I talked to Vanessa out there and she said Trent didn't show up for work today, or yesterday for that matter. That's really unlike him." Hayley frowned, sipping her iced tea gingerly.
"That is weird, Trent usually seems so considerate, you think maybe his dad pressured him out of it?" Kira frowned.
"Anton Mercer may not be the most friendly guy but I can't see him forcing Trent to quit something he really cares about, he hasn't hindered his drawing aspirations yet has he?" Tommy disagreed, somewhat in defence of his old research partner, although Mercer had acted very strangely in Tommy's previous brief encounter with him in the café. "I guess you guys haven't had the chance to catch up with him what with the last few days, huh?" He questioned the teens who shook their heads and slurped their drinks with accompanying shrugs.
"Okay, so, now I guess it's time for story-time with Kim huh?" Kimberly sighed after Tommy had gone to retrieve her ice water from the tray and handed it to her before squeezing himself back on the handy sofa Hayley had managed to get into the back room which he was sharing with her and Trini.
"Wow, this'll be better than 'Story-time with Belle' at Disney World!" Conner grinned and Ethan and Kira both stared at him as if he had grown a third head. "Ahem, carry on." The Red Ranger said embarrassedly, waving for Kim to continue.
"The similarities are endless you know." Adam whispered to Aisha in relation to Rocky- the Yellow Ranger was lying on the floor with her head in the aforementioned Red and Blue Ranger's lap, while he was listening to Kimberly with rapt attention and consuming his second doughnut- which kept Aisha wrinkling her nose as specks of sugar kept cascading down onto her face in her unfortunate position.
"Yeah, I know exactly what you mean." Aisha giggled before turning her attention to her best friend and former housemate.
"Um, I guess the last thing I remember before waking up was being in Meso-ugly's lab having the life sucked out of me, which FYI guys is not a pleasant experience, but still probably better than liposuction." She wrinkled her nose remembering a plastic surgery documentary that had put her off the practise for life. The other Rangers laughed at this, but Tommy- having seen the effects of this particular procedure of Mesogog's could not see the humour in it and settled for kissing Kimberly's shoulder reassuringly before she proceeded. He noticed as well as she did that she had intentionally left out their little dream rendezvous or however one could describe the strange visitation they had experienced while Kim was comatose, which seemed to be an unspoken agreement between the two to keep things private.
"I don't really know what happened, but I'm guessing the energy mojo you guys worked must've done the trick, because I can't see what else could have revived me. Anyway, when I woke up I felt like I'd been hit with a truck, really sore and sickly, then it occurred to me that the building was actually on fire and the room was full of smoke. I couldn't see a damn thing for obvious reasons and then the sprinklers went off and that certainly woke me up more than the fire did. I tried morphing a couple of times and I kinda felt like a car stalling, then it thankfully worked but I felt really dizzy from it." She brushed her hair behind her ear in her trademark nervous habit before continuing, and at this juncture Tommy slung an arm around her waist to rest comfortably on her hip as she talked. These little gestures of comfort and reassurance may not have seemed like much to those not in the know- no more than affection it would appear- but they represented more than that, a sharing of strength and intimacy, and definitely a way to make Kim feel more secure and protected, things he had done ever since they first started dating, just because he loved to be in contact with her more than anything.
"I heard Hayley coughing but I also heard Zeltrax and the Tyrannodrones wrecking the place so I stayed quiet and snuck off the table. I was protected from the flames by my Ninja robes so I held on a bit longer than Hayley- thankfully. I found her unconscious by the back exit but I couldn't get the doors open, so when Zeltrax had gone I used the sheets from my bed and wet them in the downstairs sink to wrap around her to protect her from the flames as much as possible- I'd figured it would be a total inferno upstairs but that was majorly an understatement." She glanced at Tommy sympathetically as she went on,
"God everything was such a mess, even without the fire. Those creeps had really done a number on the place, everything was just smashed up, it seemed like just for the fun of it, I don't think they were looking for anything because the place was just needlessly trashed, like torn up pillows and knocked over furniture- the only reason they threw stuff out of the draws and ripped everything up was to make even more mess I think. I looked around to see if there was anything worth saving but the heat was so intense I couldn't even think about going along the corridor let alone trying up the stairs and I knew Hayley couldn't last much longer- and neither could I. I had managed to get up the stairs before half the roof collapsed but then I think they dumped some fuel tanks in the kitchen or something because there seemed like this large almost 'sucking in' as the last of the oxygen was used up in there before the big explosion and I managed to make it back down into the basement before the explosion- otherwise I think we'd have both been toast- literally and figuratively, and once that had happened I ran back up the stairs back to the foyer and out onto the front porch before the whole place collapsed. Then once I was out in the open air it all just hit me, and I guess the energy expenditure at having to protect myself against the flames, carry Hayley and use my Ninja speed and slide abilities to get us out of there was just too much and my Ninja powers just exhausted themselves and gave up on me altogether, though I don't know how I managed to morph in the first place if my energy was destroyed." She shrugged with a frown, just thankful it was over- the heat and preassure had been unbearable, even with her years of Rangering experience it had still been an intense situation she never wanted to repeat.
"I believe I may be able to shed some light onto that particular query." Billy voiced from his perch on the arm of the sofa beside Trini. "I would predict, that due to the massive culmination of our combined Ranger powers while trying to restore you, our energy succeeded into transferring into you after all, indeed I doubt you could be here otherwise. The delayed reaction may have been due to the time you spent unconscious or indeed the time you spent…deceased which may have affected your recovery time. But with that massive surge of Power and energy- although that particular Spirit representation of yourself as awakened by Ninjor- the Crane- was destroyed upon the White Ranger's attack, residual power capabilities that were left in you- after all the time you spent connected to the Morphin Grid would have left its imprint on you as well as the Crane spirit- allowed you to use the remaining energy we transferred to you- that which didn't resurrect you in the first place- which was able to be expended to allow you one final morph, which it is clear to say couldn't have become available at a better time, or our efforts and heartaches could well have been for nothing." The Rangers past and present once again were in stunned silence trying to translate Billy speech into their particular language, but luckily Trini was as ever on hand to save them the trouble.
"Meaning that because the extra energy we put into Kim to wake her up was probably more than she needed it meant that she could use that extra energy for one last morph- which was made possible by her ties to the Morphin Grid and the imprint her powers left on her, especially the Spirit of the Crane." The Asian translated simply with a smile at Kim.
"Precisely." Billy nodded gratefully.
"Though now that does leave the problem of both of us being homeless." Kim glanced at Tommy with a wry grin. "Though I suppose you needed to redecorate anyway, that stuffy place was definitely in need of a few homey touches."
Tommy opened his mouth to respond in his own defence and then caught her meaning and the implication behind this and raised his brows hopefully. He was met by a bright smile in reply and responded with one of his own.
"Uh excuse me lovebirds, that doesn't just leave you two homeless!" Jason cut in sharply but humorously.
"I told you we shoulda stayed in a hotel man!" Zack muttered loudly to Billy and the assembled all laughed at that.
"So it looks like Mesogog won, he's trashed our base and all of our equipment. How are we going to fight him now?" Conner frowned, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees.
"Well, not all of our equipment." Hayley amended, glancing at Tommy.
"What have you got up your sleeve?" Kim frowned between the palaeontologist and the redhead.
Tommy looked down at her and smiled knowingly.
"Let's just say Mesogog better not count us out yet. C'mon, I'll show you what I mean."
I cheapened it, I'm sorry guys! After all that drama and emotional buildup ladt chapter that had everyone looking for a permanant room in the suicidally depressed motel, I went and ruined it by bringing them both back! Did we see it coming, probably, is it cheapened, no doubt- but the important thing was- did you enjoy it? Are you happy now? 'Cause if the answers are yes then my work is done and I can't ask for much else!
Not many chapters to go now, the build-up to the final showdown, and with Dino Thunder ending in a couple weeks we can all go into a state of mourning. Still, this one I promise will go out with a bang, and maybe if it's doable and there's any demand I could possibly do a sequel! Lol, first things first though, let's get this all out of the way before we think about that. I'd like to thank new readers QteCuttlfish and Danielle, I'm very flattered you took the time to read the story from the first, with the length it's not an easy task so thanks- I hope you enjoyed this chappy too!
Thanks as always for reading and reviewing, hope to see you next chapter!
xXx