Roses and Thorns
Chapter Eight
Disclaimer: No, I still don't own it
Author's Note: I need lots and lots of reviews! (Lol). Also, because I have practically nothing else to do, if someone has a request fic they'd like me to write, I'll see what I can do
Replies to reviews:
CamFan4Ever: Well, Cally doesn't plan on hurting Dustin anymore. If he does forgive her, she won't make a mistake like that again. Actually, she's a really hard original character to write --. I'd like to know what people generally think of her
garnetred: Yeah, she does. I'm not totally sure that she'll be able to work out her issues until Dustin forgives her, though. Which probably isn't going to happen any time soon
BlueAngel07: Thanks, glad you liked it . Hope you like this chapter too
Jorgitosbabe: I apologise for not replying to your review in the last chapter, but I didn't actually get it until after I'd posted Chapter Seven. (Grr... this site is not good at letting me know when I've got a new review!) Anyways, glad you liked it
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"Ok, Cal, we're going to go back to the basics," Faye told her friend. "Back to the meditation stage."
Cally yawned, rubbing at her eyes. "Faye, I'm so tired," she mumbled. "Can't we do this tomorrow? I really need some sleep."
"Now is the best time," Faye replied. "I don't care if you feel too tired, Cally. I am not going to risk losing you again! Now, sit down with your legs crossed."
"You're not exactly the best at training someone," Cally objected. But she sat down anyway, too tired to offer much more than a token resistance to what Faye was ordering her to do.
"I'm the best you've got, Cally," Faye shot back. "Clearly, you don't realise how wrong it would be for you to try and kill yourself. I'm going to take you through the basics of our training in the hopes that it'll perhaps help clear your mind of all of the clutter inside. Namely, the guilt you feel over what you did to Dustin."
"But I can't stop feeling guilty over what I did!" Cally protested. "How else is Dustin going to know how sorry I really am?"
"I didn't say get rid of your guilt," Faye replied. "This is hopefully going to make that guilt easier to deal with. Now, close your eyes."
Cally obeyed. Really, doing this should feel stupid, she thought to herself. But, for some reason, it doesn't. Maybe Faye's right. Maybe this is what I need.
"Now, clear your mind of all thoughts. All feelings." Faye's voice was soft, and lulled Cally into another world. Another world where pain and suffering did not exist and Cally did not feel anything, not even the ever-present guilt over what she had done.
Faye watched as a soft violet light enveloped her friend, seemingly lighting the girl up from the inside. Her face glowed, her features peaceful, serene.
An advantage to being a Light Ninja, Faye thought to herself. We can use light to clear our mind of pain. But should I try and get her to fight the depression she feels in this state? Faye wondered. She might not be strong enough to throw it off... Yet, if she doesn't throw it off, then it will consume her.
Cally remained sitting perfectly still. Her hands were folded neatly in her lap, and she remained sitting up straight. Slowly, the violet glow spread so that her whole body, including her dark hair, was lit up from within by the violet light.
At least she's not wearing anything that clashes with the light, Faye thought, feeling a slight trace of amusement.
Suddenly, Faye felt a small stirring deep inside of herself, and her whole body started tingling. Looking down at one of her arms, Faye jumped as she saw that she herself was lit up from within by an orange light.
But... How could that have happened? Faye thought to herself. The light only appears when we're meditating! Why has it suddenly appeared now
As Faye watched, orange light from herself swept over to Cally in a long line. As the light came out of her, Faye felt herself growing a little weaker.
The violet ranger's eyes flew open, and she stared in horror at the light that was going into her. As it entered her body, the orange light was converted to violet.
An energy transfer? Faye wondered. It has to be... But how is it possible? Unless it's because Cally is feeling so weak at the moment...
"Faye, what are doing?!" Cally cried.
"It's not me!" Faye replied. "It's doing this on its own!"
Suddenly, Faye could see what looked like a dark snake curled deep inside Cally. The light flooding her friend's body made it stand out.
The depression, Faye realised. That's it. The darkness inside Cally's soul. Looking closer, Faye could see small strands of violet light wrapped around the darkness, trying to contain it.
So that's why she's been so exhausted lately, Faye realised. She's been attempting to fight the depression, and it's been weakening her in much the same way as fighting off an illness like the flu would. And, of course, as soon as she slipped into meditation, her soul immediately latched onto something that would help her to fight the darkness... And, because I'm a light ranger, it latched onto me
"Faye, what do I do?" Cally demanded. Her eyes held fear.
Faye's own eyes locked onto Cally's. "Fight it," she answered.
"What? What am I fighting?"
Before Faye could reply, both of their communicators went off, and a voice echoed, "Hello, I need to speak to you two."
Instantly, the light vanished, plunging the place into darkness.
Cally placed a hand over her communicator to muffle the sound, and whispered to Faye, "What are we going to do?"
"Answer, of course," Faye said. She spoke into her communicator. "Hello, this is the orange light ranger speaking. How can we help?"
There was a moment's pause, then the voice replied, "This is the green samurai ranger speaking. From outside the forest, remember?"
Faye glanced at Cally, then spoke into the communicator, "I remember. I and the violet light ranger owe you our lives."
"Well, now's your chance to repay that debt," the green samurai ranger replied. "There's a monster at the quarry. Unfortunately, there's only one Power Ranger available to go after it... The rest aren't available. It would be great if you two could help out."
Faye looked at Cally, and mouthed, "What do you think?"
Cally shrugged. "We do owe them," she admitted in a low voice. "It would not be fair if we did not pay on our debts. At least this way, we're even. We never have to see them again if we don't want to."
Faye frowned a little. "But wouldn't it be a good idea to try and work with them?" she wanted to know. "If those two silk rangers come after us again, we'll probably need help to fight against them."
"Well, technically, they didn't come after us," Cally said. "We went to them."
"But they used that frequency to call us," Faye argued. "Actually, it's just as well that I paid attention when David was explaining about different frequencies. It meant that I could call the other Power Rangers to help us. You, on the other hand, weren't paying that much attention, as I recall."
"Yes, that might be because I was in hospital after just having tried to kill myself," Cally replied acidly.
"Um, we don't exactly have all night," the voice of the green samurai ranger echoed from the communicators.
Faye looked at Cally, who nodded vigorously.
"All right," Faye sighed. "We'll meet you at the quarry, ok?"
"It won't be me there," the green samurai ranger replied. "It'll be the crimson thunder ranger there. I have certain... important things that I need to do."
"Whatever." Faye looked at Cally. "You ready?" she asked.
Cally nodded.
"Light Storm, Ranger Form!"
The two transformed into their respective Power Ranger forms.
"Power of light!"
"All right, let's go," Faye told Cally. And the two streaked off.
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Hunter glanced up as the violet and orange rangers came next to him. Wordlessly, he pointed to the tentacled monster.
"Yuck," the violet ranger commented. She looked at Hunter. "So what's the plan?"
"I'm not exactly sure," Hunter admitted. "I couldn't think of anything better than just fight it."
The orange ranger looked at the violet ranger. "Guess we're going to have to get used to working as a two," she said.
The violet ranger nodded.
"There's supposed to be more of you?" Hunter was puzzled.
"Only one more," the violet ranger answered. "He kind of... well... left. We don't know where he is now."
"Could Lothor have captured him?" Hunter suggested. "He did that to me and... the other thunder ranger." Hunter didn't quite want to admit about the other thunder ranger being his brother. Dustin's caution still rang in his ears. The yellow wind ranger was right. They didn't really know if they could trust these two.
"It's possible, I suppose," the orange ranger admitted. "Neither of us really thought about that happening."
"Are we just going to sit here?" the violet ranger broke in. "We can't let that monster run a rampage through the town! Who knows how many people it could harm?"
The orange ranger clamped a hand down on the violet ranger's shoulder. Hunter noticed with some surprise that this immediately calmed the latter down. It reminded him of how he and Blake were. Were these two sisters? Or just exceedingly close? Hunter would have asked, but he wasn't curious enough to give away any details about himself, so he didn't think that it was fair to expect these two to tell him about themselves. He was still a bit curious, though. For instance, about how long ago they had come to Blue Bay Harbour. But, anyway, they had a monster to worry about at the moment.
"So... Either of you two got any ideas?" Hunter asked in a low voice.
"As if," the violet ranger murmured. "Your friend wasn't really very helpful. He just asked us to come, and told us where, and that was it."
"Well, we can't just attack that thing and hope for the best," the orange ranger protested.
"Why not?" the violet ranger asked. "It's worked before."
"Yes, but there was three of us before," the orange ranger said.
"There's three of us now, though," Hunter pointed out.
"Yes, but we've never worked together before," the orange ranger replied. "We don't know your strengths and weaknesses, and you don't know ours. We won't be able to work well as a team."
"Good point," Hunter responded. "But we're going to have to work together now."
"Anyone else wonder why that monster's just standing there?" the violet ranger asked.
"Do you think it knows that we're here?" the orange ranger wanted to know.
"Probably," Hunter replied. "It's probably just waiting for us to show ourselves. Man, I really wish that the others were here," he muttered. "It's going to be difficult to defeat this alien with only three of us and no way of creating an ultimate weapon or megazord."
"Can we just get on with this?" the violet ranger demanded.
Wow, she's impatient to start fighting, Hunter thought to himself. Then again, she does have a point.
"Easy girl," the orange ranger murmured. "Remember what we talked about earlier." She squeezed the violet ranger's shoulder lightly.
"Let's get on with it," Hunter said shortly. He leaped off the ledge they were on, and stood with his arms folded. "Hey you!"
The orange ranger and the violet ranger exchanged glances, then somersaulted off the ledge to land either side of Hunter.
"Could you please warn us the next time you decide to do something like that?" the violet ranger asked.
"Sorry," Hunter replied.
"Ah, the Power Rangers," the alien breathed in a voice that sounded like the hissing of snakes. "Funny, aren't there supposed to be more of you?"
"Three of us are more than enough to defeat you!" Hunter replied.
"I don't think so," the alien hissed. Three of its tentacles reached out, curling and writhing, aiming for the three Power Rangers.
Hunter and the violet ranger got out of the way, but one of the tentacles wrapped around the orange ranger. The alien slammed her into a rock.
The violet ranger ran over to her friend. "Are you all right?" she cried.
The orange ranger struggled to her feet. "I... think so," she answered. "I just feel really... weak."
"Those tentacles must be able to suck the energy out of people," Hunter commented, walking over to the other two,
"That's really not good," the violet ranger muttered. She looked at Hunter. "What should we do?"
"Stay out of the way of the tentacles?" Hunter suggested. He wasn't too sure about these two looking to him for leadership. The orange ranger had been right when she had said that they didn't know anything about each other.
The violet ranger's weapon appeared in her hands. It was long and shaped like a unicorn's horn. The orange ranger's weapon was shaped like a large cat's claw.
"Pity we can't combine our weapons together," Hunter muttered, his crimson blaster appearing in his hands. "Let's do this!"
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Blake had to admit that the movie hadn't been the best he'd ever seen. But Tori didn't seem to mind.
As they left the cinema, Blake reached to take Tori's hand, squeezing it lightly.
Tori smiled at him. "I'm really glad I came out with you today," she said.
Blake glanced at his watch, then grinned at Tori. "It doesn't have to end yet," he told her. "We still have a couple of hours until you're supposed to be home."
Tori tilted her head slightly, returning Blake's smile. "What else do you have planned?" she wanted to know.
Blake gave an almost shy smile. "I was thinking of taking a walk along the beach," he answered. "It should be really lovely at this time of night."
"That sounds like a really nice idea," Tori replied. She realised that Blake still hadn't released her hand, but said nothing. She kind of liked the feel of the navy thunder ranger holding her hand.
The beach was lovely at night. Tori made a mental note to herself to come here more often at this time of night even as she murmured, "This is so beautiful."
Blake looked at her shyly. "Almost as beautiful as you," he replied. His grip tightened on Tori's hand. There. He had said it.
Tori blinked at Blake. "You're saying that I'm... beautiful?" she questioned.
Blake nodded, then stopped and reached to take Tori's other hand as well. "Tori, this might not be the right thing to tell you here and now," he whispered. "But... I think I'm falling in love with you." He looked steadily into the blue wind ranger's eyes, and prayed silently to whoever was listening that she would feel the same way about him.
Tori hesitated for a long moment. Then, she slipped her arms around Blake's neck, and kissed him.
Blake returned the kiss, trying to convey all of the love he had for the lovely blue ranger through his kiss. He felt dizzyingly happy. He forgot everything else apart from the feel of Tori's lips on his.
The two kissed for what felt like several lifetimes, just tasting each other's lips. Blake stroked Tori's hair and back in slow circles.
Finally, they pulled away, but Blake still held Tori tightly. He rested his forehead against hers, and gave a soft laugh. "Wow."
Tori gave a slightly dazed smile. "'Wow' is right," she agreed. "I guess this is what it means to be truly in love with someone?"
Blake nodded. "Oh, yeah," he replied. "Well, it's how I imagine being in love with someone is truly like," he quickly amended. "Obviously, I've never actually been in love with anyone before now."
"Me neither," Tori breathed. "I love you too," she added, raising her head to meet Blake's lips again.
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The fight against the tentacled alien wasn't going particularly well.
All three Power Rangers were extremely weak. The violet ranger in particular kept on falling, apparently tripping over her own feet. Miraculously, though, none of them had actually demorphed. Their true identities were still secret.
We can't go on like this, Hunter realised. Something's gotta change, and soon. Otherwise, we'll lose this battle. And quite possibly our lives too.
The orange ranger limped over to Hunter. "What should we do?" she pleaded. "None of us will be able to battle for much longer. That alien's just too powerful for us."
"No, it's not!" Hunter replied, suddenly angry with the orange ranger for being about to give up so easily. "You've got to throw everything you have into this battle!"
"That's what we've been doing, though," the orange ranger protested, glancing towards the violet ranger, who had just been slapped with a tentacle and knocked to the ground. She was a while getting up again.
"We can do this!" Hunter insisted.
"Maybe..." the orange ranger began.
"Maybe what?" Hunter demanded.
The orange ranger took a deep breath. "We never actually tried to put our weapons together," she replied. "We just assumed that it wouldn't work... But what if it does work?"
Hunter looked at the helmeted head facing him for a long moment, then said, "All right. We can try it."
The orange ranger nodded. She raced over to the violet ranger, and, grabbing her arm, pulled her back towards Hunter.
"We're going to put our weapons together," Hunter told the violet ranger, who nodded.
Hunter winced a little. Despite the fact that he couldn't see the violet ranger's face, he could tell that she was exhausted, simply because he was too. They had to finish up this fight for the simple fact that each of them needed to rest.
A little surprised, Hunter found that the three weapons fit together quite easily. He motioned the two girls behind him, and leveled the light storm blaster at the alien.
Just as Hunter fired, a tentacle whipped towards him and slapped him hard across the chest. The crimson thunder ranger flew backwards, feeling himself demorph even as he did so.
Hunter watched through a red haze as the alien was shot and its body disintegrated. He was incredibly relieved to see that the alien wasn't made to grow.
Hunter's eyes then widened as he saw a figure making its way towards the two light rangers. It was a white Power Ranger, and its suit was in the same style as the other two. It must be the third light Power Ranger, Hunter realised. But there was something... odd about the way the white ranger moved. And his words chilled Hunter to the bone.
"Well, well, Cally and Faye," the white ranger breathed. "Looks like you're not totally useless without me after all."
"David, what are you doing here?" Faye demanded.
"Congratulating you," the white ranger, who was clearly David, answered. "I had thought to take you two out now... But it wouldn't be much of a challenge. You two are too weak. So I'm afraid that you'll just have to wait."
Cally?! Hunter thought. The same Cally who cheated on Dustin? It might not be... But it seems too much of a coincidence for Dustin's ex-girlfriend to show up almost at the same time as these two light rangers!
"David, what do you mean?" the violet ranger wanted to know.
"I mean, Cally, that you have to pay for what you did to Dustin!" David snapped. "And it's not going to be quick and easy!"
Yep, definitely the same Cally, Hunter realised. I'll have to do my best to remember the true identity of the three light rangers... I'll have to tell Dustin. It's not fair to him. And... Cam asked them for help... But Hunter was feeling unconsciousness gradually overtake him. He fought his hardest to stay conscious, though. He had to find out as much as he could.
"But... Cally's already paid for that," Faye protested. "Don't you remember? She ended up in hospital because she tried to kill herself..."
At those words, Hunter's eyes snapped open again. Here was something unexpected. A person didn't try to kill themselves unless they felt really bad about something... Did they?
Must... remember, Hunter thought to himself. But the crimson thunder ranger felt his mind beginning to drift. He had to rest.
"I don't care," David said coldly. "Cally will pay for what she did... But not yet. It would be too easy to destroy her now. She doesn't deserve a quick, easy death."
Hunter blacked out.
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Cam was working in NinjaOps when he heard someone enter behind him. He turned round, and his eyes widened at the sight facing him.
The violet ranger and the orange ranger were standing there. Between them, they were supporting an unconscious, demorphed Hunter.
"What happened?" Cam demanded.
"One of the tentacles on that alien got him," the violet ranger explained. Her voice sounded strangely distant, like she was concentrating on something else. Or, at least, thinking of something else.
Cam blinked at that. "The tentacles?" he repeated.
"Those tentacles sucked the energy out of our bodies," the orange ranger said. "Just as the alien was destroyed, it slapped him with a tentacle and took the rest of his energy."
"His name is Hunter," Cam said shortly. "Follow me." He walked into the rec. room, where there was a bed. "Lay him down on here," he told the two rangers.
The violet and orange rangers obeyed.
"Well, now you know the identity of two of the Power Rangers here in Blue Bay Harbour," Cam said slowly.
The violet and orange ranger looked at each other, then at Cam.
"It's all right," the violet ranger said. "We won't let on that we know your true identity. But we really need to go now. I'm sorry." And, with those words, the violet and orange rangers left.
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